DDP Health&Care Summer School 2019

As part of the European project Distributed Design (DDP), funded by the European program Creative Europe, OpenDot organizes a Summer School to learn how to co-design careables, or Design for Care objects for people with disabilities.

A highly formative path, alternating moments of theory with sessions of co-design and agile prototyping, to understand and experience the methodology of co-design in the field of Health and care. 

The program includes lectures, vertical training on technologies and digital fabrication and making sessions, with the aim of developing in a short time working prototypes that respond to real needs and support the autonomy of people with disabilities, “designing with, not for”.

Following a Call for Needs, launched in collaboration with Tog Foundation, 3 real needs were selected, 3 challenges for participants of the Summer School, aspiring makers of health.

Of the more than 50 applications of makers and designers from all over Europe, 3 teams were trained to find specific solutions on the theme of learning, sport and music.

The participants collaborated in the design of 3 prototypes that meet the real needs of:

1. Davide, a child suffering from cerebral palsy who wanted a musical instrument to play with his classmates;

2. Rosina, passionate about rowing, whose quadriplegia prevents her from making movements with her hands without experiencing pain;

3. Pamela, speech therapist who has studied a system to teach multiplication tables to children.

Opendot, in continuity with the research and definition of a co-design methodology for healthcare, has developed a toolkit for co-design - that is a series of templates - that suggest:

1. how to define in the most precise way the concept in relation to the need
2. how to establish a positive dialogue with the people for whom they plan
3. how to navigate between CNC machines, technologies and the world of sensors and actuators
4. how to efficiently organise work through easy and intuitive tools  
5. how to better communicate your project
6. how to document the process and the final project so that it is understandable, shareable online and replicable by all
   

Here you can download the toolkit, available open source under the license CC BY-NC-SA.

FI.CO, acronym for Fingers Counting, is the pair of gloves that allows children with dyscalculia to learn, understand and memorise mathematical tables. This project is aimed at children aged 7 to 10, as from the second grade children begin to learn the multiplication tables.

FI.CO is a useful tool with which children play while learning, making it easier to memorise arithmetic calculations and multiplication tables and to relieve stress and anxiety related to homework.  It is scientifically proven that finger counting can help the brain to memorise better and this process is especially useful, especially for children with dyscalculia.

Gloves have both fixed and editable sewn numbers. The fixed numbers (1 to 10), or ten times tables, are placed on the back of the hand. On the palm of the hand the child can see the result of multiplication. These results are sewn onto the interchangeable layer, which is that of the multiplication results. The package contains the glove with the multiplication numbers and the interchangeable layers for the multiplication results.

Team: Pamela, Federica Caruso, Serpil Erdönmez, Lara Ferruccio, Martina Spinelli, Marco Bencivenga

DaviDo is a DIY musical instrument that allows children with motor disabilities to create, learn and play music, alone or in a group. It helps the child to develop his creativity and be socially active by interacting with others.

DaviDo is an adaptable, wearable and ergonomic device, which can be placed on the legs and fixed around a wheelchair, or on a table, through velcro straps to facilitate its attachment and opening.

The instrument consists of buttons that adjust volume and rhythm, the on/off switch and the large keys that allow greater accessibility because they are placed on a layout that allows the user to be comfortable to play, without worrying about the accuracy and delay of the sound.

DaviDo is made to measure by Davide, whose motor disability causes him a lack of precision, delayed and unrepeatable movements, and hand actions with never equal power.

Team: Davide, Timothy Frégeau, Oriane Anita Rainero, Giorgio Ratti, Elena Panciroli, Natali Ristovska.

Row-Ro is a semi-open glove made to measure for Rosina, a girl with an incomplete quadriplegia that does not allow her to close her fingers, thus making it impossible to grasp objects. To continue her passion for rowing, Rosina uses a gym object that causes her pain and does not give her a natural and comfortable grip.

Row-Ro consists of a partially open neoprene glove with rigid PLA supports, 3D printed, which offers wrist support involving the thumb and part of the palm under the index finger.

The closure system includes two orthogonal velcro strips, at the ends of which there are two rings to simplify the grip. One of the bands that turn around the wrist allows the closure of the glove while the other, sewn on the top of the phalanges, offers the possibility of closing the fingers, and then the hand, around an object. On the top of the fingers two strips of PLA, made with 3D printing, accompany the fold of the hand.

The final product is thus obtained through two digital manufacturing technologies, laser cutting and 3D printing. Both rigid and neoprene parts are obtained from a flat surface then sewn and modelled on the specific needs.

Team: Rosina, Miriam Ronchi, Francesca Raimondi, Mattia Ventrella, Ülker Aral

Here you can download the toolkit, available open source under the license CC BY-NC-SA.