NeuroMaker Hand Curriculum Materials
The NeuroMaker Hand curriculum is separated into seven course modules, each mirroring one focus area of the creation of the BrainRobotics prosthetic hand.
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Academic Materials
Wondering how to implement this in your classroom? View our Academic materials for standards alignment and case studies
Student Projects
Looking for a quick activity? Search our student projects for some quick projects to work on!
Overview
Within the Project Guided Assembly Module, students learn the basics of mechanical and electrical engineering through the manual build of their kits. Each group of students is presented with a disassembled set of mechanical, electrical, and control parts. Students collaborate together to complete each portion of the build with reference materials and teacher guidance.
Classes
- 3 Hands on build projects to complete the build of the NeuroMaker Hand
- 1 Documentation and Review Class
Focus Areas
- What is mechanical and electrical engineering?
- What are microcontrollers and how do they interact with other materials?
- How do I designate and accept tasks for my team?
Overview
Within the Biotech and Biomedical Exploration Module, students are provided with content knowledge surrounding real life relevant Biotechnology concepts and progress to their own design of a new Biomedical product. Sustained inquiry through multiple interdisciplinary lessons provide additional levels of details to abstract concepts in assisting other humans through technology. Students perform their own research and collect their own data to support their own collaborative solutions to real world issues they investigate with their classmates. Students are encouraged to think of themselves as multi-disciplined innovators solving a human centric biomedical problem. Content knowledge spans across biomechanics, brain machine interfaces, prosthetics and more.
Classes
- 6 Biomedical Content Lessons
- 1 Documentation Project
- 1 Class Sharing Activity
Focus Areas
- What biomedical issues do humans face and how can they be solved through technology?
- How do I identify solutions to a real world problem and how do I evaluate its effectiveness?
- How do I create a solution to an issue and gain support through other’s cooperation?
Overview
Within the engineering design module, students investigate, experiment with and use the engineering design process. Students are first provided with an overview of engineering design best practices and are provided with background knowledge and situational context to experiment with different applications of this process. Students further the knowledge they have acquired in the previous two units by combining their experience in biotech and mechanical domains within engineering design frameworks. Students are finally arranged into groups and tasked with evaluating the implementation of the engineering design process into solutions that they have designed around different selected issues.
Classes
- 5 Engineering Design Content Lessons
- 1 Documentation Project
Focus Areas
- What is the engineering design process and how is it related to items that I am familiar with?
- What are the essential concepts of prototypes, 3D printing and manufacturing that must be considered in the creation of a new product?
- How do I collaboratively evaluation solutions to a real world problem according to the criteria of the engineering design process?
Overview
The Life and Physical Sciences module is provided as an additional exploration of science concepts encountered in a typical middle and high school lab sciences curriculum. Students have the opportunity to use their assembled NeuroMaker Hands to investigate concepts and hands-on activities surrounding physics, energy and the human body. Each lesson is a stand alone activity that can be implemented in a science class investigating these topics.
Classes
- 4 Hands on Science Experiments
Focus Areas
- What forms of energy exist and how can we see them in the motions of a human hand?
- What are the Newtonian rules of physics and how can I see them in a real life context?
- What is friction and how can I use friction principles in the application of a prosthetic hand?
Overview
Within the Introduction to Programming Module, students are introduced to basic programming concepts that will enable them to discover the relationship between hardware platforms and computing. Students engage in lessons that set up their programming environment, discuss hardware and software differences and teach conditionals, functions, variables, sequences and loops. Students utilize their knowledge of these concepts to first create a fully virtual game on their computer and later add the hardware functionality of the robotic hand. Students use a popular block based programming platform called mBlock to complete the functions of this module.
Classes
- 1 Programming materials set up tutorial
- 3 Programming Lessons with hands on assessments
- 2 Programming Projects
Focus Areas
- What is programming and how is it relevant to the application of hardware and solving defined technology problems?
- What are conditionals, variables, sequences and loops and how are they combined together to create logical programs?
- How are programming concepts applied into interactive environments?
Overview
Within the Artificial Intelligence module, students learn the conceptual ideas, ethical considerations, real life applications, challenges and future careers of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Students begin with a series of content knowledge presentations, then progress into open discussions, NeuroMaker Hand applications and finally open challenges.
Classes
- 7 AI fundamentals lessons with programming and interactive activities
- 3 AI Applications for the NeuroMaker Hand
- 2 AI Open Projects for the NeuroMaker Hand
Focus Areas
- What is Artificial Intelligence and what isn’t?
- What ethical considerations are there for AI and how can I start a career in this field?
- How does AI interact with real world inputs like audio and video input?
- How can I apply AI to control a mechanical hand to perform specific motions, build out sign
language and other challenges?
Overview
Within the 3D printing module, students discover 3D printing by matching design projects with the needs of Biomedical Engineering. Students investigate the core concepts of 3D printing with real life examples, scope out the needs of printing specialized pieces for the human hand, follow along design tutorials to model attachments onto their NeuroMaker Hand and finally print out the pieces necessary to wear their NeuroMaker Hand as a real prosthetic. Students are guided in their design process by using real engineering processes f rom the Southampton Hand Assessment Protocol, the same test passed by the real BrainRobotics Hand!
Classes
- 3 Units investigating design restraints and the principals behind 3D printing.
- 2 Units guiding students through the modeling and printing of 3d printed appendages
- 1 design unit to further enhance learning and create customized designs
Focus Areas
- What is 3D printing and how is it used in a Biomedical context?
- What are the protocols used for Biomedical engineers to create a certified prosthetic?
- How do I design and create materials to wear and test my model prosthetic?
- What other design choices can I make to improve the life quality of those needing assistive technology?