REACH PROJECT

My team and I developed the idea for a toy to aid in the development of children with autism for REACH services. After talking with REACH and conducting our own research we assessed the needs of children with autism and designed the Cooking Creation Game. I originated the idea for the game but my team helped bring it to life. A brief description of the game is that kids follow recipes on card and place ingredient shapes into a food mold inside a cooking pot. The pot is then placed on the stove and the stove lights up to give positive feedback. We built the stove from wood, 3-D printed the cooking pot, and fabricated 3 food molds (for chocolate cake, pepperoni pizza, and apple pie) using 3-D printed parts as well as laser cut parts. A simple circuit with contact plates on each component was embedded into the design. The game was targeted to develop cognitive and gross motor skills for children with autism. This project came with many challenges and my team and I had to engineer solutions on the spot. Also, this project provided me with an opportunity to gain experience working on a team.