Perspectives in Assistive Technology is a Winter Quarter Stanford course - entering its seventeenth year - that explores the design, development, and use of assistive technology that benefits people with disabilities and older adults. It consists of semi-weekly in-person discussions; lectures by notable professionals, clinicians, and assistive technology users; field trips to a local medical center and an accessible inclusive playground; an Assistive Technology Faire; and student project presentations and demonstrations.

Plans for next academic year's course

Important dates:

• Monday, September 26th - First day of Fall Quarter classes
• Thursday, December 1st - Winter Quarter course enrollment opens
• Tuesday, January 10th - First class session of Perspectives in Assistive Technology

Community Attendance - Community members will be welcome to attend class sessions on campus - masking may be required.

Guest Lecturers - I have begun contacting past guest lecturers about their availability as well as considering new presenters. Six speakers from last academic year have expressed their willingness to participate once again.

Student Projects - I have received several student project suggestions, which I will develop into project descriptions for students to review.

Request for student project suggestions - Project suggestions are beginning to be solicited.

Community members are strongly encouraged to submit project suggestions for students to pursue. These suggestions must address a real challenge experienced by an individual with a disability or older adult who lives in the local community that is not adequately served by existing commercial products. (Perform an internet search to verify this.) Identify and describe the challenge rather than imagining a solution. Please do this as soon as possible so I'll have adequate time to consider all submissions, edit approved entries, and post them. The deadline is Thursday, December 1st. If I accept your project suggestion, you will be invited to "pitch" it to the class on Thursday, January 12th. If a student team selects it, you will have the opportunity to offer your advice, direction, and expertise in person, by phone, and/or by email. For more information refer to the Call for Projects Suggestions and Project Requirements webpages.

This course relies on community involvement,
so please suggest a project based upon an identified problem or challenge.

Examples of unsuitable project suggestions - To further aid the project solicitation process, here are examples of unsuitable project suggestions and explanations of of why they are not appropriate. Many of these examples are drawn from real submitted suggestions. It is my hope that the list will guide your project suggestion thinking.

1. Project Suggestion - I need a new part for my wheelchair, but the company charges too much money for it. I am sure students can build a new one less expensively.

   Project Suitability Analysis - Copying an existing part does not exercise students' creative design skills. Fabricating a ready-to-be-manufactured, lower cost version of an existing product is not a suitable project goal as a student team's final prototype is a very long way from a potential commercial product and parts typically represent a fraction of a product's retail price.

2. Suggestion - I suggest students build me a wheelchair that is super strong, very lightweight, and inexpensive.

   Analysis - This project suggestion is over specified as all of the design criteria can not be met and as such is unachievable. In addition, there is insufficient space on campus to work on large items such as wheelchairs.

3. Suggestion - My challenge is getting into my car. I am imagining a seat that rotates out to receive me and then rotates into position for driving.

   Analysis - Car seats that rotate are available commercially. Students can not work on projects that involve modifying a user's car or their home.

4. Suggestion - It would be great if I could wirelessly call for an elevator located in a campus building, instead of having to press the button.

   Analysis - Students are forbidden from working on projects that modify a campus building or the infrastructure in general.

5. Suggestion - I care for a family member who is severely obese. Is anti-gravity close to becoming a reality?

   Analysis - Projects' aims and specifications should be realistic. Project solutions that can only be achieved by employing magic, violating the laws of physics, defying gravity, creating a perpetual motion machine, employing materials or technology that do not exist, or disrupting the space-time continuum are examples of infeasible projects.

6. Suggestion - My older adult uncle who lives in Sacramento is challenged by meal preparation tasks.

   Analysis - An older adult, a person with a disability, a family member of a person with a disability, or a health care professional must be available locally (within 25 miles) to work with the student project team to further illustrate the problem, offer advice during the quarter, and test the students' prototypes. Existing products that address meal preparation tasks are available.

7. Suggestion - I have detailed plans for a new assistive technology device. I would like a student team to build it for me.

   Analysis - Student teams' projects must not be physical representation of another's design concept. Fabricating a prototype from an existing design drawing does not exercise students' creative design skills.

8. Suggestion - Can students add a new access feature to my smartphone?

   Analysis - Project solutions must not require access to or modification of proprietary software, such as adding functions to a cellphone.

9. Suggestion - My older adult mother could benefit from a device that helps her get into and out of the bathtub.

   Analysis - There are many existing products that could provide a safe solution. Student project prototypes must not pose any risk of harm to the user or student team.

10. Suggestion - My assistive technology business needs an accessible website.

    Analysis - Website design, development, or modification are not suitable project tasks.

11. Suggestion - I have a startup assistive technology company, but I can't afford to pay engineers to develop my first product. Can I have a few students work on a project for my company in its lab space in San Jose?

    Analysis - It is not appropriate for students to be low-cost or free labor for a commercial company. Students must pursue their projects on campus.