Assistive Technology Science Projects

Explore, design, and build assistive technology devices and applications with DIY science and engineering projects and experiments.

Assistive technologies include a broad range of devices and solutions to support individuals with various disabilities and challenges, including vision or hearing impairment, mobility issues, long term health conditions, age-related challenges, and cognitive, emotional, and learning challenges. Assistive technologies are designed to improve quality of life, health, self-care, and safety, and promote independence, well-being, and inclusion. These devices often enable individuals to perform tasks that may otherwise be difficult or impossible. Assistive technologies can be helpful in all aspects of daily living. Familiar assistive technologies includes hearing aids, mobility devices, and text-to-voice or text-to-braille software.

Students may be motivated to explore the design, construction, and programming of assistive technologies because of personal experience with friends or family members or because they are more broadly interested in healthcare, coding, or engineering. Whatever brings them to this exciting field of research and development, exploring coding, circuits, and electronics with projects focused on innovation, development, and improvement of assistive and adaptive solutions can be really meaningful for students.

Assistive Technology Projects for Students

Assistive Technology Projects

1. Build an electronic white cane: Build an electronic white cane that emits a beeping noise when an obstacle is detected. This project uses Arduino and incorporates an ultrasonic distance sensor and a buzzer.
2. Make obstacle-detecting glasses: Make glasses that use Arduino, an ultrasonic sensor to measure distance, and a buzzer to alert the user of nearby objects.
3. Build a refreshable Braille display: Make a refreshable braille display from an array of miniature solenoids controlled by an Arduino.
4. Make a communication aid: Use a micro:bit to design and code an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device that allows an individual to express how they feel by pressing the on-board buttons, shaking the device, or using one of the other input options.
5. Make a hands-free puff switch: Design and build a puff switch that allows a user to blow through a straw (or similar) to control a simple electronic output.
6. Make an adaptive controller: Design an adaptive controller, using available peripherals like larger buttons, foot pedals, or specialized joysticks, to let people with limited mobility play video games on a specific platform.
7. Program a Pomodoro timer: Program a Pomodoro study timer using an Arduino, LEDs, and an LCD screen to help someone stay on track with customized intervals of focus and rest.
8. DIY Adaptive Switches*: Use aluminum foil and other craft materials to make adaptive switches. This abbreviated project idea contains a video that shows examples built with a micro:bit, but students can design their own using other popular boards like Arduino and Raspberry Pi.
9. Make a video game for the blind: Design and create a video game that a blind or visually impaired person can play. What changes and in-game cues will be especially important?
10. Make a soft activity timer: Systems for keeping time can be helpful in regulating certain conditions. Convert a stuffed animal into a light-up activity timer that can be activated with a press of an embedded force sensor.
11. Make an automated pill dispenser: Make an automated medication dispenser that can follow a programmed schedule to dispense pills at varying times of the day. (For a similar project, see Build an Automatic Dog (or Cat) Treat Dispenser.)
12. Make a fall detector: Use micro:bit to create a fall detector app to call or signal for help if someone falls.
13. Build a smart home device with voice control: Use speech recognition technology to create a voice-controlled lamp (or other small appliance).
14. Design a medicine reminder app: Design and code a customizable medicine reminder app with MIT App Inventor.
15. Make a color detector app: Use MIT App Inventor to make a simple color detector app that can help a user differentiate between red and green, colors that are difficult to tell apart if someone has red-green color blindness.

Note: For students interested in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), projects related to assistive technology target SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.

Using Microcontrollers

Many of the projects highlighted above use a microcontroller like Arduino or micro:bit to combine circuits, sensors, and coding. (This combination of coding and electronics is often referred to as "physical computing.")

micro:bit offers a good starting point for students who are new to coding and physical computing projects. See Pocket-Sized Physical Computing Projects with micro:bit.

Students ready to advance their circuit building or coding projects, can get started with Arduino by following videos in the How to Use Arduino tutorial. This series of more than 40 videos covers the fundamentals of working with Arduino, beginning with the basic "setup" and progressing step-by-step through additional things to connect, try, and troubleshoot. See Arduino Projects for Students for exciting project ideas.

Kit! The Electronics Kit for Arduino is available for students working on electronics, coding, and physical computing projects using Arduino. (Note: See the "Materials" section for each project for a complete list of required materials.)

Assistive Technology Science and Engineering Projects in Action

The following STEM videos demonstrate some of the projects highlighted above:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hmTb7Iqm4s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg6tvNNRlTA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0-yi5dm2qw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEciiScv3Gw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCSAL2TLXi8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_K0zZHPrBs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm8SnV_u9bk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf4Bnm8edAg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00VXq03n_y0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8e6T-Hc9wE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIS-r5K_9WE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0IAQzxgQa8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag0ijYIetmQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO67-HnE-Hw

Vocabulary

The following word bank contains words that come up in the context of assistive technology and the student science and engineering projects mentioned in this resource.

• Accessibility
• Accessible design
• Accommodations
• Activities of Daily Living (ADL)
• Adaptive
• Adaptive technology
• Alternative (input or access)
• Ambulation aid
• Assistive listening
• Assistive technology (or assistive device)
• Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)
• Braille
• Color blindness
• Color vision deficiency (CVD)
• Communication aid
• Cues
• Echolocate
• Input
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Medical alert device
• Mobility
• Nonverbal communication
• Output
• Pressure sensor
• Refreshable braille display
• Sip-and-puff switch
• Smart cane
• Smart device
• Solenoid
• Sound cues
• Speech-generating device
• Speech recognition
• Switch (switches)
• Synthesized speech
• TDD (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf)
• Text to speech
• TTY (TeleTYpe)
• Ultrasonic distance sensor
• Verbal communication
• Voice banking
• Voice recognition
• Wearables
• White cane

Related Resources

For additional resources to explore computer science, electronics, and maker projects, see the following:

• 8 Wearables Science Projects
• 25+ Coding Projects for Beginners and Beyond
• Student AI and Machine Learning Projects
• 18 Science Lessons to Teach Circuits
• Personal Health Science Projects