Students create device to give disabled helping hand

Like the calm before a storm, the atmosphere was heavy with anticipation as workers at the Santa Maria Red Lobster readied the eatery to open for lunch amid a flurry of activity.

Employee Oralia Ramos sat at a table in the dining room, carefully rolling cutlery into napkins in preparation for the customers.

To complete her task, Ramos - who suffers from poor muscle tone as a result of Down syndrome - used an assistive device designed by two Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo engineering students.

The students, Paula Gijon and Jao Surakitbanharn, paired up with Santa Maria-based VTC Enterprises to create the “Napkin Roll Assist,” which received the $30,000 top prize in the National Scholar Award for Workplace Innovation and Design. The competition is for college students who develop devices to help people with disabilities overcome barriers to employment and improve their ability to compete in the workforce.

However, for Gijon, a 2004 Santa Maria High School graduate, and Surakitbanharn (pronounced soo-ra-kit-ban-harn), the best part of the experience was not the money.

It was “being able to meet people and work with them and being able to improve their lives,” Gijon said.

As part of their degree requirements, Gijon and Surakitbanharn - who both graduated from Cal Poly in June - enrolled in a mechanical engineering class taught by professor Jim Widmann.

The course involved teaming up with a classmate and completing one of a variety of real-life projects proposed by local business members, such as Katherine Cook, VTC's rehabilitation director.

VTC Enterprises provides job training, employment placement and a host of related services for area residents with cognitive and physical disabilities.

One of Cook's clients, who has the use of just one arm, worked at Red Lobster rolling napkins, but was extremely slow at the task and could only produce about 20 percent of what a non-disabled person could accomplish.

Could one of Widmann's student-teams come up with a device to help Mike do his job faster and more efficiently?

Surakitbanharn and Gijon jumped at the chance to develop a low-cost device that would accommodate a wide spectrum of limited-mobility disabilities without replacing the need for the workers using it, Surakitbanharn said.

Thus, “when we were developing it, we tried to make the application as broad as possible,” he added.

To fund the project, which took approximately 20 weeks to develop, Gijon and Surakitbanharn received a $350 grant from the American Society of Engineering Education.

Developing the first Napkin Roll Assist prototype necessitated spending hours with VTC clients with similar disabilities, videotaping their movements and analyzing their primary difficulties in rolling napkins.

Surakitbanharn and Gijon went through several prototypes before they finally struck gold with a simple, streamlined design that resembles an elevated cutting block with a groove the size, shape and depth of silverware.

Using the Napkin Roll Assist, clients can complete roughly 75 percent of what a non-disabled person could produce, Cook said, and the device was entered into the National Scholar Award for Workplace Innovation and Design.

The National Institute for the Severely Handicapped (NISH), a national nonprofit agency that supports groups participating in a program to provide jobs for handicapped people, sponsored the contest.

Gijon and Surakitbanharn received their award on June 11 during a special reception held in Washington, D.C.

The prize money was split four ways: VTC and Cal Poly each received $10,000, while Gijon and Surakitbanharn each received $5,000.

The pair said they plan to eventually patent, produce, market and sell the Napkin Roll Assist. However, those plans will likely be on hold for now because Gijon is headed for graduate school and Surakitbanharn is interning with BMW in Germany.

NISH CEO Bob Chamberlin said students like Gijon and Surakitbanharn help open more doors for people living with physical and mental challenges.

“The number one barrier to employment for (people with disabilities) is the perception the American people have,” he said. “The fact is when you give them the opportunity and you give them training, they can not only do it, but often they do it better than someone without a disability can do it.”

On one recent workday, Ramos - a VTC client who typically works at the Red Lobster from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. several times a week - was getting ready to pack up and go home.

In front of her, the oversized bin that had held loose cutlery at the beginning of the morning was now filled with tightly rolled napkins, cutlery tucked snugly inside.

“It's good,” Ramos said of the Napkin Roll Assist. “This is better.”

As she completed her final roll, Ramos looked up.

“I'm done,” she said, flashing a bright smile and throwing her hands in the air.

Natalie Ragus can be reached at 347-4580 or nragus@santamariatimes.com

July 4, 2008