Outreach

Winter Quarter Recap 2024

Katie News, Outreach

Here’s a look at what some of our lab members have been up to this quarter – in the lab, around campus, and out in the community!

January:

Steele lab members, Mia, Kate, Alisha, and Katie volunteered at a UW GoBabyGo (GBG) Build Workshop. GBG is a community-based outreach program that works with families, clinicians and industry partners to provide pediatric mobility equipment to children with disabilities. The primary mission of GBG is to provide modified ride-on cars to these children to use as a powered mobility device for fun, function, and exploration.

A group of people posing for a photo with their finished Go Baby Go Car
A group of people building their Go Baby Go Car
Two people posing for a photo with their finished Go Baby Go Car
A group of people posing for a photo while building their Go Baby Go Car

February:

Lab members, Kate, Mia, and Megan volunteered at the Special Olympics Regional Alpine & Snowboarding Competition at the Summit at Snoqualmie.

Kate, Mia, and Megan standing together and bundled up in warm winter clothes.
A snow covered slope with orange poles
A snow covered hill with people skiing

Also in February:

Mackenzie standing at a podium in front of a group of students in a lecture hall

As part of her duties as a TA this quarter, Mackenzie Pitts gave a Dynamics (ME230) lecture to a 200-person class. She crushed it.

March:

Mia Hoffman presented a poster on “Quantitative methods are more accurate than caregiver-reported measures for tracking a child’s mobility device use” at the Mechanical Engineering Graduate Association Poster Competition.

Mia has blonde hair and is wearing a polka dot blouse with a green skirt. She is standing next to her poster on "Quantitative methods are more accurate than caregiver-reported measures for tracking a child's mobility device use."

Also in March:

The iconic UW Cherry Blossoms graced us with their presence. Photos captured by local photographer and lab member, Megan Ebers.

A brick path with cherry blossom trees, grass, and benches
Close-up of a branch with white flowers
A tree with white blossoms on it

Switch Kit Workshop at Kindering

Katie News, Outreach , , , ,

Mia Hoffman standing in front of a screen giving a presentation on the Switch Kits for digital play. In the foreground, there is a soft pillow and squishmallow DIY adaptive switch. Lab members, Mia Hoffman, Kat Steele, Heather Feldner and Katie Landwehr led a “Switch Kit” Workshop at Kindering in Bothell, WA.

The workshop aimed to teach Speech-Language Pathologists how to use a new system we have designed with the MakeyMakey for inclusive play options in early intervention. The team also got to try their hands at making their own adaptive switches out of pool noodles! Stay tuned for more on this project.

Slide titled "Development of a Switch Kit for Digital Play" by Mia Hoffman from the Steele Lab and IMPACT Collaboratory. A picture is shown of a stuffed animal playing a game on an iPad using the Switch Kit device

NSF Convergence Accelerator | Living Better through Rehabilitation & Assistive Technology

Dr. Steele AccessEngineering, Outreach, Presentation , , , ,

A second NSF Convergence Accelerator focused on increasing access and inclusion. The LIBERATE workshop is focused on Living Better through Rehabilitation & Assistive Technology.

title slide of Dr. Steele's presentation on a purple background with text Liberate 2021 NSF convergence accelerator

As an NSF Convergence Accelerator, participants will seek to identify pathways that could be  pursued by multidisciplinary teams to get solutions at least to a prototype stage in 3-5 years. The long-term goal from this workshop is to kickstart the next wave of technologies that will empower people with disabilities.

Dr. Steele will be participating and presenting some kernels of ideas for inclusion, especially highlighting recent work from CREATE.

Slides

Download PDF of slides.

Email Dr. Steele (kmsteele – at – uw – dot – edu) with questions, comments, or suggestions.

HuskyADAPT… adapts!

Elijah HuskyADAPT, News, Outreach

Boxes of of many different colorful toysForegroud: woman wearing clear glasses smiling behind mask. Background: woman holding toy smiling behind mask next to car

Many University of Washington Mechanical Engineering student clubs had to think outside the (toy)box and overcome disruptions caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic, but few have adapted as well as HuskyADAPT lead by the SteeleLab’s very own Alyssa Spomer and Nicole Zaino.

This year they pivoted to have virtual workshops to continue providing students with hands-on-experience modifying toys, and contactless donation events to keep up the distribution of free adapted toys throughout western Washington.

Way to go Alyssa, Nicole, and all HuskyADAPTers! Keep it up!