by Hannah Buckelew
A team of undergraduates in the UAB Department of Biomedical Engineering presented their senior design project, SitSafe: Automatic Leveling Device, at the Design of Medical Devices Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota April 17-19. Team members Ethan Dunkin and Sommer Dorrough presented the device at the Student Design Showcase. Other team members include Ethan Custis and Grant Kohls.

“I’m excited to see all of our hard work finally coming together,” says Custis.

Patients living with conditions such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Cerebral Palsy, and paralysis may be limited in their mobility. This could prevent the user of an electric wheelchair from regaining control in the case that their hand or other operating appendage falls from the wheelchair’s control interface. The automatic leveling device is a modular addition to powered wheelchairs employed to keep users upright.

SitSafe allows for adjustment in two axes. A circuit controls the device’s extension and retraction and contains both manual and automatic control. The purpose of the manual mode not only acts as an emergency override, but also allows the user to set their ideal wheelchair position for the automatic mode to return to. The device can be adapted to accommodate various types of powered wheelchairs.

“I’m extremely excited for the opportunity to represent UAB BME at the DMD Conference,” says Dunkin. “This allows us to showcase our device to a much larger audience and make connections that could assist us in the future with further development of our project.”

Team members said they would like to thank BME Professors Alan Eberhardt, Ph.D., and Dale Feldman, Ph.D., as well as Michael Papp and Julie Calma for their support on SitSafe.

“In the future, I hope our device becomes implemented on powered wheelchairs as it has the potential to help a great deal of people living with disabilities,” says Dorrough.