Patrick Miconi enjoys working with his hands.<\/p>\n
And Leila Awad hopes to one day work in project management.<\/p>\n
These four UConn seniors, all working toward graduating from the UConn School of Engineering this May, didn\u2019t really know each other when they were chosen to work together as a team on their Senior Design project in the Fall 2022 semester.<\/p>\n
But the task they were given to complete for their undergraduate capstone was the one that all of them \u2013 and most of the rest of their Mechanical Engineering classmates \u2013 really wanted: the ramp project.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was number one for everyone,\u201d says Luk.<\/p>\n
![\"Countdown](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/DEP-018-UComm-Commencement-Graphic-FY22_bookish-300x76.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was actually the top project that our Senior Design class wanted,\u201d agrees Awad.<\/p>\n
Senior Design is a hallmark of the School of Engineering\u2019s undergraduate programs. The two-semester course, a graduation requirement, engages students as teams that work to solve real-life engineering problems for industry and private sponsors.<\/p>\n
Students learn and experience the importance of schedules, communication, budget constraints, goal setting, deliverables, customer expectations, and solving problems \u2013 like the problem of how to build a better, affordable, sustainable, and modular accessibility ramp.<\/p>\n
The Project<\/strong><\/p>\n Bill Wiggin knows a lot about solving problems. He\u2019s done some interesting things in his life: advising Connecticut politicians and pastors, starting and selling businesses, identifying problems and then finding solutions.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never been traditional,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve always been unique in what I\u2019ve done, for better or worse.\u201d<\/p>\n A few years ago, after Wiggin was diagnosed with cancer, someone close to him became disabled. For both of their sakes, Wiggin began thinking ahead to their possible future mobility needs and started making arrangements for aid and in-home accessibility.<\/p>\n But even with a lifetime of connections, and a familiarity with the workings of state government far greater than most average Connecticut residents, one persistent problem peeved him: how to get a ramp.<\/p>\n \u201cThe overriding thought about health care in Connecticut is to keep people in their homes as long as possible,\u201d Wiggin says. \u201cWell, it seems to me the first consideration should be, can they get in their homes? They have all these processes in the state of Connecticut \u2013 clerical processes, applications \u2013 clear paths to all sorts of decisions of every kind, right down to the railings for the bathtub and all these things that are clearly marked on applications and you can easily get. There\u2019s no clear path to getting a ramp.\u201d<\/p>\n A quick internet search offers dozens of private companies selling different styles of wheelchair and accessibility ramps, but actually getting one isn\u2019t always so simple.<\/p>\n \u201cI called up to say, I need a railing in my bathroom. You know what the response was? \u2018OK. Fill out this, sign that. Whatever it was. You got it,\u2019\u201d explains Wiggin. \u201cWhenever I called up on a ramp, I\u2019d say there\u2019s a problem getting ramps. What I heard was, \u2018yeah, ain\u2019t there?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Some ramps on the market are portable, and some are meant to be installed in a permanent, outdoor location, like the entryway of a house. Most permanent ramps are made of aluminum, which are complicated to construct, or wood, which will degrade in Connecticut\u2019s climate and require repairs over time.<\/p>\n Permanent ramps can cost thousands of dollars, and most are complex to build, requiring professional installation on top of their purchase price. For people dealing with high medical bills, limited mobility, or a fixed income, getting a ramp installed at their home can be a unique challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you go to Connecticut\u2019s website, and you look at how to afford a ramp, it\u2019ll send you to several nonprofits,\u201d says Edith Barrett, a professor emeritus with UConn\u2019s School of Public Policy. \u201cI\u2019ve talked to several of them, and they\u2019ll give you low-interest loans, but they don\u2019t give out ramps for free. Only if you\u2019re a veteran, and Medicare will pay some, but they\u2019re not going to pay a lot. For people who are on the cusp of not qualifying, if they have to put up a thousand dollars for a ramp, that\u2019s a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n Barrett met Wiggin in 2021 when he audited a class she was teaching on social policy at UConn Hartford. They spoke about his ramp dilemma and how he was at that time considering approaching the Connecticut General Assembly to try to create new policy that would offer greater options for people trying to get accessibility ramps.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s how it all started, and that\u2019s how I got involved,\u201d Barrett says. \u201cLet\u2019s see if we can\u2019t go to the legislature and get policy created where the state legislature will help lower-income people afford ramps.\u201d<\/p>\n But what started as just a conversation about policy has taken on a life of its own since those early conversations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got to talking about affordability of ramps, in general,\u201d she says, \u201cand we got to brainstorming. I said, you know those playgrounds for children that are made of high-density plastics? I wonder if we could make a wheelchair ramp out of high-density plastics. Then it would be recyclable, it would be recycled, it would be sustainable, and it could be affordable. And Bill said, well, how about if we do it like Legos, where you can just put it together? And that is the brainstorm that we took to the students at UConn.\u201d<\/p>\n The Deliverable<\/strong><\/p>\n Barrett and Wiggin brought their recycled plastic ramp idea to the faculty leaders of Mechanical Engineering\u2019s Senior Design in summer 2022. The project was accepted into the program \u2013 it\u2019s supported by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, through Barrett\u2019s faculty development fund \u2013 and the student team was assigned and got to work in the fall.<\/p>\n \u201cOur objective is to design and create a prototype accessibility ramp that is affordable and modular, as well as having an emphasis on construction through recycled materials,\u201d Ramos explains.<\/p>\n The design also had to adhere to the ramp requirements specified in the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, which defines appropriate slope, rise, width, length, edge, handrail, and landing requirements for ramps.<\/p>\n They spent the fall semester researching existing ramps and beginning their initial, modular design, with each member of the team contributing and collaborating on the design itself, but also leaning into their own personal strengths.<\/p>\n Awad has helped organize meetings and keep the team on track while also contributing to design and working on a finite element analysis, or FEA, for the project, which is used to analyze how a design reacts under real-world conditions when dealing with issues like heating and cooling, vibration, structural support, and water flow.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone contributes their own expertise to the group,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Luk, who cares deeply about sustainability, focused on how their project could be better for the environment than other ramp options. She also is interested in design and helped contribute to the final concept for the ramp\u2019s handrails, and she became the team\u2019s knowledgeable go-to on compliance with ADA requirements.<\/p>\n \u201cI bounce around where I’m needed,\u201d Luk says. \u201cI do keep track of the ADA. We almost had a big mistake with the landing. I noticed that the size seemed kind of off, and it turns out that it was almost going to be too small. Luckily, that’s something we caught.\u201d<\/p>\n While both Miconi and Ramos initially both worked on modeling the team\u2019s design concept, Ramos took the lead as the project progressed from initial thoughts to really optimizing their concept.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a lot more difficult to do very basic things than people might imagine,\u201d Ramos says. \u201cAt least at a first glance, the shapes of our design seem very simple. They’re not incredibly complex. We’re not building an airplane engine here, so you don\u2019t have a bunch of different splines and complex geometries. But it’s still difficult to construct, and then to assemble, and then to optimize from that point forward, and then remodel, rebuild, and reassemble.\u201d<\/p>\n Miconi, who has experience with metal work and construction, took on the primary role in constructing the team\u2019s physical third-scale prototype. The project is also deeply personal for Miconi, who lived with disability as a child.<\/p>\n \u201cI went from wheelchair to walker to crutches to leg braces,\u201d he says, \u201cand while I was disabled and in my wheelchair, I felt like I couldn\u2019t be as independent as I wanted to be because I needed so much help. I was so fortunate that my parents were always able to support me when I needed physical assistance, but not everyone has that, and ramps are expensive.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, it\u2019s a very personal reason why I want these to be cheaper. Even if it\u2019s a temporary thing for people, like it was for me, fortunately, that it\u2019s something that people can afford for quality-of-life assurance.\u201d<\/p>\n In the fall, the team also began researching and sourcing material options, which proved challenging as supply-chain issues in late 2022 made ordering the recycled high-density polyethylene, or HDPE, lumber they hoped to use more difficult. They eventually settled on using a sustainable HDPE fiberglass lumber made from recycled milk jugs and laundry detergent containers as their primary material.<\/p>\n Their final design relies on an aluminum angle that acts as a frame to support the beams and handrail sections, which are made to be interchangeable and optimized to use simple bolts to connect the pieces together. The universality of the pieces not only makes manufacturing easier, the students explain, it also helps ensure that the ramp can be customized to fit each person\u2019s home, doorway, and yard.<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s part of the modularity aspect,\u201d Ramos says. \u201cWe want you to be able to say, well, I can’t go right, because the configuration of my house doesn’t allow for that. I need to navigate some kind of obstacle \u2013 \u00a0maybe I have a tree in the way \u2013 and I want to be able to go left, or I need to go straight, in this scenario. You can do that. You would just basically start connecting your other run sections in whatever configuration you may need, and you do it piece-by-piece, connecting each section to another section.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe final way I would propose to the sponsors on how they should actually sell our accessibility ramp design is they would sell it by section, versus a whole accessibility ramp kit,\u201d adds Awad, \u201cbecause each home is very unique.\u201d<\/p>\n Additionally, each individual piece of the ramp weighs less than 30 pounds \u2013 another important requirement of the design.<\/p>\n \u201cA main goal with our assembly is that, maybe they can\u2019t put it together themself, but they can hire the high school kid next door,\u201d says Miconi. \u201cIt\u2019s Ikea-level design, so it can be put together fairly easily.\u201d<\/p>\n The Future<\/strong><\/p>\n The engineering students will present their project alongside other Senior Design teams on April 28 at the School of Engineering\u2019s annual Demonstration Day. While they\u2019ve been meeting with Barrett and Wiggin about their progress every few weeks throughout these two semesters, Demo Day will mark the first time the project sponsors get to see the actual prototype in-person.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they\u2019ve really been taking to heart all the things that we\u2019ve been saying, that we want it to be something that you or I could put together \u2013 anyone who could put together an Ikea desk can put together this ramp,\u201d says Barrett. \u201cWe want the pieces to not be very heavy, so they have paid attention to that. We want as much recycled material as possible, so they\u2019ve been paying attention to that.\u201d<\/p>\n For Wiggin, working with the students has been \u201cmore than wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s energizing,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s life-giving. It\u2019s like getting a jumpstart. Their desire to do good, to change the world for the better, and for me to be a part of affording them that opportunity, life doesn\u2019t get any better than that. It really doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n For Wiggin and Barrett, Demo Day also marks another step in the process toward making ramps more accessible and affordable for the Connecticut residents who need them. They\u2019re still planning to take their initiative to the state legislature, and they\u2019re launching a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, called The Earth Friendly Project, through which they hope to leverage public-private partnerships to help get ramps to those who need them, but also to help bring the UConn student-designed ramp \u2013 which they\u2019re calling Eco Entry \u2013 into reality.<\/p>\n \u201cWe never wanted this to be entrepreneurial,\u201d Barrett says. \u201cThat\u2019s never what we intended to do. Our intention was always to make ramps accessible to lower-income people,\u201d something that makes sense from a public policy standpoint.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s in the state\u2019s best interest to help people stay in their homes,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s most affordable for people to be able to stay in their home. Not have to go into nursing care. Not have to go into assisted living care. The longer they can stay in their homes, the less expensive it is on everybody, and the better quality of life it is for the individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to be completely different,\u201d says Wiggin. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be different in order to bring this home. I want to re-conceptualize the distribution process \u2013 I want to re-conceptualize on every level. I want to completely re-conceptualize the last mile, because I don\u2019t think there is one on this. I want to build it, and I want to re-conceptualize the way a ramp is designed.\u201d<\/p>\n While the four members of the student team don\u2019t see themselves launching a company or starting to manufacture their ramp design on their own, they hope their work will be a jumping off point for a future Senior Design team to optimize even further \u2013 or for Wiggin and Barrett to take their existing design to the next level.<\/p>\n \u201cI know a big problem for people in the disabled community is independence,\u201d says Miconi. \u201cA lot of times, they feel like because of their disability, their independence has, to some extent, been taken away from them. We want this ramp to ensure that, at least for some aspects of their life that are impacted by their disability, they still have that independence.\u201d<\/p>\n But they all agreed that the team experience \u2013 from working together to problem solving to integrating sustainability in their modeling \u2013 is one that\u2019s helped to prepare them for the next stage in their lives, as they look forward to graduation and entering the world as the next generation of mechanical engineers.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things that I’ve gained from Senior Design is the ability to bounce back in the sense that, when I come across a problem, I’m able to now think in a way that this problem isn’t the end-all,\u201d says Awad. \u201cThere can be solutions. It’s already giving us a head start on how to think in an engineering mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Doors will open for the School of Engineering\u2019s 2023 Senior Design Demonstration Day at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, April 28, at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs. For more information, about Demo Day and about Senior Design at UConn, visit <\/em>seniordesignday.engr.uconn.edu<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"UConn](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/041423-MESeniorDesignTeam-4-300x200.jpg\")
![\"D2](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/D2-ramp-bottom-view-90x300.png\")
![\"isometric](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/D2-ramp-isometric-view-300x183.png\")
![\"side](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/D2-ramp-side-view-300x97.png\")
![\"UConn](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/041423-MESeniorDesignTeam-7-300x200.jpg\")