Published 10 December 2024
UNSW Assistive Technology Hub connects student engineers with clients in a powerful problem-solving approach
Honours-year engineering undergraduate Jasmine Zeng began her studies with only some very general ideas about engineering. “I went into engineering not really knowing what it was, but that it was a STEM thing, and I could build stuff, that was it.” Her first design project – “an arm extension that could help someone play drums” – reframed her thinking. It combined her two passions – music and using engineering to solve problems – and set her on a path of studying mechatronics and biomedical engineering that has already made a difference to people’s lives.
Since that first project, she’s sought out opportunities to apply her expertise as a violinist and pianist to working with clients, including a violinist who lost much of the use of one arm. “From an engineering point of view, I thought, ‘I wonder how I can get the essence of what violin playing and what the violin is, and boil it down to specific things that I can then reengineer into a way he can use it.’” She added:
"A lot of other people who maybe haven’t played music, or maybe aren’t as passionate about music, think, ‘Oh, if you can make a sound, that’s good enough.’ But it isn’t. For him, it’s important that the instrument that he comes up with is sophisticated enough that he can perform with it – that he can express himself with it. Because if he can’t do that, then it’s just sounds.”
Jasmine’s honours thesis is being supervised by Associate Professor Lauren Kark, who launched the Assistive Technology (AT) Hub at UNSW. Jasmine described her thesis project: “My thesis is an instrument that allows you to increase your finger pressure, so that you can learn to pick up objects. I thought it would be a lot more rewarding and a lot more intrinsically motivational if music was involved in the rehabilitation. Plus a lot of good studies have shown that doing sensory-motor connection does help promote neuroplasticity, which is what you need for working with something like cerebral palsy, which is a movement disorder that you’re born with.”
Jasmine finds the resources she can access through the AT Hub immensely valuable. “Most of it is being able to contact people, especially through Lauren as well. [The clients] have an experience that I have not had and I want to make it for them. It doesn’t matter what I think! It’s how they feel about it. The other thing is being able to talk to other professionals that I would simply not be able to find, or if I could find, would be hard to contact. Lauren found a couple of occupational therapists that I could talk and have meetings with. Talking to them really helped me narrow down where I’m starting to use my engineering brain rather than my ‘What’s best for the client’ brain.”
She attributed her determination to pursue biomedical engineering to the learning from A/Prof. Kark. “I would say Lauren and the way she taught the course really cemented my interest in the biomedical field, and of course convinced me to do a biomedical thesis despite it not being my major. It's also my ideal career at the moment, and I'm looking to enter the field however I can.”
Like Jasmine, dual Bachelor of Engineering/Master of Biomedical Engineering student Will Kablau was drawn to the problem-solving aspect of engineering. He said, “I liked computers and I liked technology, and I knew that there was a need for modern engineers to adapt and to have more skills than just mechanical things, so I ended up going with mechatronics. So I got that problem-solving skill-set tool box, so that I can come to a problem and bring a multidisciplinary approach.”
He described mechatronics as “50% mechanical, 20% electrical, 30% software. It’s like robotics or automation, gearing more towards that hybrid of where it all intersects.” He’s quick to point out, however, that that’s not the whole story of successful engineering. “I think you have to be curious to be an engineer, intrinsically. If you stop being curious, you’re giving up a bit." He added:
"You always want to be asking, ‘Why is this the way it is? How can it be better?’ But don’t forget that people are a part of that as well. ‘Why does this person have this requirement, how does it impact their life?’ The big one for me is: ‘How are they currently solving that problem?’ Because a lot of the people we deal with are so creative in their approaches to daily tasks we take for granted that they have their own entirely novel method that’s completely unheard of, but it works for them. And you channel their creativity, their enthusiasm, their curiosity into your own work, and it’ll transfer over.”
For his honours project, he’s collaborating with an artist who works in metal. “[The client] was saying that when he’s welding, he’s struggling to hold smaller pieces in position. He has this big robotic gantry, and it’s great, it does a lot for him. But it’s big and clunky. The project we’re working on is smaller robotic workshop aid with a magnet on the end that’s more manipulable, so that he can essentially do much finer work.”
Will also finds the support he gets from the AT Hub and A/Prof. Lauren Kark to be invaluable. “I meet with Lauren once a week, which is fantastic. I think [the AT Hub’s] main support is just their enthusiasm. I have a problem, how do I fix this? What solutions might I have overlooked? The technical staff and the Makerspace Technical side of it are very knowledgeable. And their enthusiasm for the human-betterment interaction is very useful.
"You’re able to bridge the gap where you’re not looking for financial glory or millions and millions of dollars, but you’re just wanting to make a difference. And it does, because as it stands, no-one else is. So you need those people like Lauren, like the Makerspace, who have the desire to help.”
A/Prof. Kark pointed out that the AT Hub needs the students as much as they need the AT Hub.
“Students are the driving force behind the AT Hub. Their creativity, dedication, and fresh perspectives are the lifeblood of this initiative, transforming challenges into opportunities and making a tangible difference in the lives of those they collaborate with."
She added, "Their contributions not only enhance the quality of life for people with disabilities but also foster a culture of empathy and innovation within our academic community.”
To find out more about the AT Hub at UNSW, visit their web page.
Article written by Laura E. Goodin
Editing and photography by Laura Nierengarten