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With the first aid the global association of engineers in Spain IEEE awarded students of the Polytechnic of Cartagena will develop therapeutic devices in collaboration with Astus
The association of students of the Polytechnic University of Cartagena IEEE-UPCT has achieved its international parent $ 10,000 funding, the maximum possible, to develop therapeutic devices for children with multiple disabilities, they will go to child development and early care Virgin Charity Astus in Cartagena.
Funding comes from a call program Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS, for its acronym in English) of the international association IEEE that have submitted proposals for more than one hundred countries.
"Since it was created in 2007, never a Spanish project had been selected by the EPICS program, which makes the Polytechnic University of Cartagena in a national reference and places us in the global focus," highlights the alumnus Felipe Segura Gutierrez, head of social volunteer IEEE-UPCT.
The project is funded development over the next year three low-cost therapeutic devices intended to stimulation of children with severe disabilities.
"We will use the latest technology but opting for free software and hardware devices that are accessible to everyone and can be reprogrammed by the therapists themselves," Segura says.
The first devices to develop is already well advanced, as part of the Final Project Segura made under the direction of Professor John Suardíaz, also a member of IEEE.
It is a portable posturógrafo low cost, designed for children with hemiplegia correct their body posture in an entertaining way.
"Treatment sessions should be stimulating and enjoyable for the child," says the former student UPCT, which has created a video game in which a lion moves across the savannah, depending on the child's movements, to catch a zebra.
"We have the collaboration of the Department of Plastic Expression, Musical and Dynamics of the University of Murcia and Astus, we advise on new educational and therapeutic currents", explains IEEE-UPCT.
An electronic interface adapted to multiple sensory stimuli for children with multiple disabilities is the most ambitious project proposal.
"It must be very versatile, to suit the child and not the reverse," Segura says.
"To facilitate the therapist stimulation of different senses, through auditory, luminous, with fragrances, pressures or vibrations mechanisms" details.
"Those who will benefit from the device are children with serious problems regarding the environment and themselves, we need to enable them sensory experimentation because it is their only way to learn," he adds.
The third device to develop is an automated balancing.
"We want to give degrees of freedom the child with multiple disabilities, to be able to swing by itself," Segura advances.
Nobel prize plagued Association
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE, for its acronym in English and pronounced in Spain as "ie-cube") is an international non-profit organization that has as its primary purpose the promotion of technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of the humanity.
Its creation dates back to 1884, counting among its founders personalities like Thomas Alva Edison and Alexander Graham Bell.
Currently, IEEE members include 27 Nobel Prize.
IEEE has more than 3,000 student branches in a hundred countries.
In Spain there are 19, with the Murcia branch of the IEEE, created by students from the Polytechnic University of Cartagena, one of the most recent.
By the Center for Child Development and Early Intervention (CDIAT) Virgin of Charity of Astus spend about 350 users per year between 0 and 16 years.
Their motto "A little step slow ... got my attempt" inspires therapists, families and children.
Source: UPCT
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