Skip to main content
Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering
J Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering Stories Student Spotlight

From jar openers to key grippers, devices designed by UF students help people with disabilities

By Erin JesterStory originally published on UF Health

Seen from below, three students lean over a wheelchair and attach a zipper bag to the bottom of the seat.

Engineering students (left to right) Ryan Lomaglio, Hannah Burdzy and Katya Tipps replace the zipper bag on Dug Jones’s wheelchair after attaching a plastic bracket that will allow Jones to open the bag with one hand. Photo by Ashleigh Lucas

  • UF students are collaborating to create custom 3D-printed assistive devices for the community.
  • The project pairs occupational therapy students with engineering teams to develop low-cost solutions for daily challenges like opening jars or stabilizing items on wheelchairs.
  • Participants receive personalized tools designed to address specific needs that are often overlooked by large-scale manufacturers of medical equipment.

While access has improved for people with disabilities, small inconveniences still exist everywhere. To solve that — piece by piece — students from the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions and the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering are helping design 3D-printed assistive devices for locals with unique needs. 

The devices community members asked for are simple — a specialized jar opener, a key gripper, an adjustable iPad stand and a phone stabilizer — items that are hard to find because they aren’t manufactured on a large scale like wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs.

Read full story on UF Health.