Jefferson High School student modifies remote control cars for children with disabilities
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/SJKATB7CGBBCHATR22YXIS2FOY.PNG)
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) –
Elijah Phillips is part of the Iowa BIG program and developed an idea: to create controllers so that children with limited motor skills can have fun with remote control cars.
But he says it wasn’t for a note.
“Like when I do it like I’m not doing it for the level, obviously I do it for the kids because you know when you think about it, the kids trump the level.” says Phillips who is a junior from Jefferson High School.
Phillips made it happen with the Generate Health Technology Manufacturing Lab at UnityPoint Health.
“I really didn’t think I had a good imagination, but with Iowa big, you know, I just realized I have a huge imagination, I can think of a lot of ideas, obviously that got me here . “
Phillips buys a regular RC car. He uses a computer to design a new controller with bigger buttons and joysticks and prints it on a 3D printer.
Then he puts the wiring of the original RC car. All in all, he will craft 5 of the special controllers to give away this Christmas.
“Kids with fine motor disabilities can’t really use their fingers, but they can control their fists and their entire forearms with challenge, so what we did, we chose buttons so they could use their fingers. fists. and slap it on the arrow, they can do like that, and that or that, ”says Phillips.
“It’s really great to know that we can provide students with hands-on experiences and skills that they can develop and the reward they get from giving to a kid who couldn’t play with a remote control car that actually l The experience is very rewarding, ”says Rose Hedges, who is the champion nurse maker.
Phillips got acquainted with working on real cars with his father who was a mechanic in Mexico City. Now he hopes these skills can become his career and more.
“So after I graduate I want to be a welder, but later in life I like mechanics, I like working on cars, so I would really like to do something with that. “
And now he’s passing that love of cars on to children who otherwise wouldn’t experience it.
Copyright 2021 KCRG. All rights reserved.