DETROIT (WXYZ) — Students at the University of Detroit Mercy are making a difference in the community by creating technology to improve mobility for people with disabilities.
Watch Demetrios Sanders' video report:
Through the university's Faces on Design program, engineering and nursing students collaborated for months to build assistive technology devices for three individuals.
Some of the technology showcased on Monday included a device to help individuals in wheelchairs get into cars, technology to move household items from a vehicle to a porch, and an all-in-one grabbing and reaching device.
Rochester Hills resident Richard Dries received the all-in-one grabbing device. While working on a roof in 2014, Dries fell, an accident that originally left him paralyzed from the neck down.
"One minute I'm standing on a building, one second later my face is on cement," Dries said.
He has since regained some mobility and uses various grabbing and reaching devices for everyday tasks.
"I get myself up in the morning, get myself dressed in the morning, take two of the sticks and stretch out as straight as they'll go," Dries said.
Mechanical engineering student Marino Bachi helped create the new device to make things simpler for Dries.
"Our main goal was increasing quality of life. So any challenges Richard faced on a daily basis, our goal was to go in and make him as happy as we could," Bachi said.
Professor of Nursing Molly McClelland said the process is a team effort from concept to construction.
"They get together with a client and a blank sheet of paper, and they have to figure out," McClelland said. "None of us have all of the knowledge, work with others who are an expert in their field because collectively you'll be able to make a better product."
Nursing student Mariana Mati also worked on the project.
"I knew that I would be making a difference in someone's life, especially my client, so it was just very rewarding, very fulfilling," Mati said.
Those receiving the devices are looking forward to the possibilities they will bring.
"'This is going to help so many people.'. I totally agree with that," Dries said.
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