Rob’s Make:able Challenge: The Final Product
Today is the submission deadline for the 2024 Make:able Challenge and we are so excited to see what 3D printed assistive devices teams have come up with this year! As many of you already know, our Lead Designer Rob has also been working on a design for Cath, who is 76 years old and has osteoarthritis in her knees and hands. Rob has been creating a YouTube series documenting his entire process and we are delighted to share the final product and videos with you today. Introducing Pinchee!
15th May 2024 • Make:able
Pinchee is a dexterity stacking game that encourages players to perform arthritis pinching exercises and wrist rotations. The aim of the game is to use bird game pieces to pick up twigs and stack them on the elephant’s back. The key criteria was to design a product that not only kept Cath’s hands active in a fun and engaging way, but to design something that didn’t scream ‘disability’. We think we’ve done quite a good job of this but we’ll let you be the judge! Check out this short clip of Pinchee in action.
As mentioned earlier, we have an entire YouTube series of Rob’s journey in designing Pinchee. The final 2 videos can be viewed below and if you’ve not yet seen the earlier ones, check out the full playlist here.
We are delighted at Cath’s reaction to the game and this is just the beginning for Pinchee, which we will be releasing as an open-source design in just a couple of weeks. We hope you enjoy watching Rob’s journey and good luck to all Make:able participants this year!
—
Finally, if you are unfamiliar with the Make:able Challenge, it is a yearly 3D printing and assistive technology design challenge, hosted by PrintLab and Autodesk. Each year we have thousands of students and makers creating amazing devices for people with disabilities. The challenge is free to enter and comes with a complete online toolkit that supports each stage of your journey – from getting inspired and building technical skills through to developing empathy, generating ideas and creating your product through an iterative process. To learn more and to get involved, check out the Make:able Platform here!