Date of Award

5-1998

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Departmental Honors

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

Increasing mobility is a key to ensuring that a disabled child feels accepted and as normal as possible. The object of Remote Freedom is to provide an inexpensive design that will modify a toy vehicle so that it can run remotely. The case that we designed for was a child with cerebral palsy. Originally the toy vehicle on the market needed major modifications both for the safety of the child and the addition of the remote control The main components that were added were a safety harness, a roll bar and motors to control steering and speed.

It was discovered that to meet the space constraints in the toy, three separate servomotors had to be used to control the steering, gas petal and the gear switching mechanism. In testing the prototype, the single servomotor used to control steering became inadequate. It is recommended that two servomotor in tandem be used so that the plastic gear inside the servomotor do not fail.

The total cost of the kit developed is $346, far less than the $500 limit required. The remote control and the steering servomotors constitute the major cost. When compared with the wire-remote car out now ($6,000) this price is within the means of the families who could make use of this toy.

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Faculty Mentor

P. Thomas Blotter

Departmental Honors Advisor

R. E. Jeall