Date of Last Revision

2023-05-03 12:52:16

Major

Mechanical Engineering - Cooperative Education

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Date of Expected Graduation

Spring 2019

Abstract

For our senior design project, our team will be consulting to create a balancing aid system intended for the recumbent bicycle shown below in Figure 1. The owner of the bicycle is Robert Henderson, a former United States Navy sailor from Northeast Ohio who picked up biking and skiing while he was stationed in Maine in the late 80’s. While there, he took to the mountains on the rugged terrain and brought this passion of biking back home to share with his wife, Johanna once he completed his service to his country. Biking became an integral part of the Henderson’s lifestyle and was one of their favorite family activities.

However, 14 years ago, Robert was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease which has greatly affected his body and thus his riding ability. His family came to Akron seeking an engineering team to help design something to help him get back to riding again. Studies have shown that the act of balancing and riding a bicycle can reduce the tremors and shakiness caused by Parkinson’s Disease. Through the University of Akron’s Engineering Service Design Team, our team connected with Robert and his family and we were able to borrow the recumbent bicycle from them to work on our design.

The bicycle shown below is what Robert’s wife Johanna brought to us in an attempt to create a system that stabilizes it so that Robert can once again enjoy his passion for biking. Our task was to create a system based off of this bicycle that would allow Robert freedom in biking but also keep him stable at all times.

Research Sponsor

Engineering Service Design Team

First Reader

Heidi Cressman

Second Reader

Guo-Xiang Wang

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.