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CREATE 2021-2022
After a two-year hiatus, CREATE is back with new projects and new winners. “NYSID’s annual assistive technology competition is one of our favorite events of the year,” said Maureen O’Brien, president and CEO.
Nine groups of students from across New York State assembled in the Empire State Plaza convention center in Albany on Monday, April 25 for the 2022 CREATE Symposium. After months of preparation, each group of students debuted their innovations created to improve the vocational lives of workers with disabilities to the public.
From carefully designed accessibility and communication apps to problem solving equipment, each team of student engineers showcased their thoughtfully developed projects. Student teams are paired with a NYSID Member Agency from their local area, and tasked with creating solutions to work-based struggles employees with disabilities face every day. Several 2022 inventions are already in use or on their way to in use.
The team of judges from across technology, business and rehabilitation sectors observed each project before facing the difficult task of deciding who would be leaving with prizes.
We were honored to have Senator John Mannion, Assemblymember Chris Burdick and Assemblymember John McDonald address the students, Member Agencies and other guests. We were equally honored that OPWDD Commissioner Kerri Neifeld presented the winning selections with their awards.
Congratulations to the 2022 winning teams for these assistive technologies:
First Place: $15,000: SUNY Albany with their Paper Shredder Disposal System, created for the Center for Disability Services.
Second Place: $10,000: SUNY Polytechnic Institute with their Slate Cleaning and Packaging project created for The Arc Oneida-Lewis Chapter.
Third Place: $5000: The City College of New York with ASLNOW and Schedule and Structure, created for Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey.
To learn more about the different projects, check out the full list here.
Thank you to each participant for working hard to create a more inclusive and accessible workplace for people with disabilities.
The City College of New York
PROJECT: Altri
Altri is an Android application developed using Java in Android Studio. The goal is to improve the independence of adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and provide them with support throughout their tasks while trying to help enhance their social skills. There are two main components to the app: a scheduler and an AI chatbot.
Read the paper: CUNY - Altri.pdf
PROJECT: Autism Bridge
An app-based solution that aims to tackle the foremost causes of the high unemployment rate faced by people with Autism Spectrum Disorder. An employer's lack of understanding about autism often creates difficulties in applying for jobs or handling interview situations effectively. By providing a professional network mobile application with a special focus on people with ASD, it will help eliminate the difficulties in applying for jobs by connecting individuals with recruiters, talent managers and potential employers.
Read the paper: CUNY - Autism Bridge.pdf
PROJECT: ASLNOW (Formerly EverHear)
ASLNOW's objective is to provide an equal and comfortable workplace experience for individuals that have any form of hearing loss by improving on speech-to-text and including speech to American Sign Language (ASL) and ASL-to-text via a graphical keyboard interface. The app will allow people to text or send audio to other coworkers. The app will then translate the audio or text to ASL when communicating with a user who knows ASL. For people who only communicate through ASL, the team will develop a graphical keyboard enabling users to chat in ASL and, depending on the user's choice, the text will be translated to English or kept in ASL.
Read the paper: CUNY - ASLNOW.pdf
PROJECT: Schedule and Structure
An app that aims to help individuals with autism and/or ADHD with organizing, planning and staying focused on tasks. The app will allow for collaboration between workers and supervisors. With its scheduling features, chat space and mood tracker, it will allow for greater ease of communication and building structure for their day.
Read the paper: CUNY - Schedule and Structure.pdf
Manhattan College
PROJECT: High-Res Headband Document Scanner & Transmitter
Smile Farms is a workplace that employs individuals with physical disabilities on various tasks ranging from watering plants to shredding paper in bulk. Randy, who works at Smile Farm, is immobile from neck down with some control over his fingers. He aspires to work in the paper scanning department and requested the team build a device to scan documents in a way that does not require him to use his hands. The team came up with the idea of creating a wireless scanner that could transmit the scanned documents to a computer without much, if any, human involvement needed.
Read the paper: Manhattan College - High Res HeadBand Scanner.pdf
PROJECT: Smart Register
Constructive Partnerships Unlimited has a location in the Bronx that is opening a cafeteria. Workers with disabilities at this location have trouble using the cash register. The Member Agency partner requested that the team develop a Smart Register as there are little to no smart cash registers that are designed for workers with disabilities. The team plans on using a system to scan currency with a camera. The system will recognize the currency and upload it to a touchscreen panel that is connected to an application. The application will then compute the change the worker needs to give to the customer.
Read the paper: Manhattan College - Smart Register.pdf
New York Institute of Technology
PROJECT: Shipping Material Process Improvement
A technology that standardizes the process of cutting and gluing specific cardboard shipping materials. The new technology will create a safe and productive environment to maximize the output of quality cardboard shipping materials, thus enabling AHRC to train more individuals with disabilities to produce the materials.
Read the paper: NYSID Competition 2022 Glue Assistance Robot.pdf
SUNY Albany
PROJECT: Paper Shredder Disposal System
One of the shredders in the Mail Fulfillment Center is difficult to empty. The process currently used is to place a cart with two bags under the shredder, wait until they are full, then remove the bags, lift them and throw all the paper into another box. Often, a worker with a disability has difficulty lifting the bag without assistance, reducing the worker’s productivity. The goal of the project is to make the process easier by allowing the worker to dispose of the paper through an automatic process, resulting in more efficiency.
Read the paper: SUNY Albany - Paper Shredder Disposal System.pdf
SUNY Polytechnic Institute
PROJECT: Slate Cleaning and Packaging
The main focus of this project is to improve the system currently in place to wash and package slate used to make cutting boards that come to them from a local quarry. The project aims to improve how they move the heavy slate from one station to the other as well as heavy buckets of cleaning liquid used to wash the slate.
Read the paper: SUNY Polytechnic - Slate Cleaning and Packaging.pdf
See below for a complete list of media coverage from this year’s event.
News 10:
https://www.news10.com/news/engineering-students-to-help-individuals-with-disabilities/
CBS Albany:
Manhattan College:
https://manhattan.edu/news/archive/2022/04/engineering-students-helping-people-with-disabilities.php
SUNY Polytechnic Institute:
WWLP 22:
https://www.wwlp.com/news/new-england/suny-poly-students-win-2nd-10k-at-2022-create-symposium/
SUNY Albany:
https://www.albany.edu/news-center/news/2022-engineering-solutions-people-living-disabilities
WNYT:
After a two-year hiatus, CREATE is back with new projects and new winners. “NYSID’s annual assistive technology competition is one of our favorite events of the year,” said Maureen O’Brien, president and CEO.
Nine groups of students from across New York State assembled in the Empire State Plaza convention center in Albany on Monday, April 25 for the 2022 CREATE Symposium. After months of preparation, each group of students debuted their innovations created to improve the vocational lives of workers with disabilities to the public.
From carefully designed accessibility and communication apps to problem solving equipment, each team of student engineers showcased their thoughtfully developed projects. Student teams are paired with a NYSID Member Agency from their local area, and tasked with creating solutions to work-based struggles employees with disabilities face every day. Several 2022 inventions are already in use or on their way to in use.
The team of judges from across technology, business and rehabilitation sectors observed each project before facing the difficult task of deciding who would be leaving with prizes.
We were honored to have Senator John Mannion, Assemblymember Chris Burdick and Assemblymember John McDonald address the students, Member Agencies and other guests. We were equally honored that OPWDD Commissioner Kerri Neifeld presented the winning selections with their awards.
Congratulations to the 2022 winning teams for these assistive technologies:
First Place: $15,000: SUNY Albany with their Paper Shredder Disposal System, created for the Center for Disability Services.
Second Place: $10,000: SUNY Polytechnic Institute with their Slate Cleaning and Packaging project created for The Arc Oneida-Lewis Chapter.
Third Place: $5000: The City College of New York with ASLNOW and Schedule and Structure, created for Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey.
To learn more about the different projects, check out the full list here.
Thank you to each participant for working hard to create a more inclusive and accessible workplace for people with disabilities.
The City College of New York
PROJECT: Altri
Altri is an Android application developed using Java in Android Studio. The goal is to improve the independence of adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and provide them with support throughout their tasks while trying to help enhance their social skills. There are two main components to the app: a scheduler and an AI chatbot.
Read the paper: CUNY - Altri.pdf
PROJECT: Autism Bridge
An app-based solution that aims to tackle the foremost causes of the high unemployment rate faced by people with Autism Spectrum Disorder. An employer's lack of understanding about autism often creates difficulties in applying for jobs or handling interview situations effectively. By providing a professional network mobile application with a special focus on people with ASD, it will help eliminate the difficulties in applying for jobs by connecting individuals with recruiters, talent managers and potential employers.
Read the paper: CUNY - Autism Bridge.pdf
PROJECT: ASLNOW (Formerly EverHear)
ASLNOW's objective is to provide an equal and comfortable workplace experience for individuals that have any form of hearing loss by improving on speech-to-text and including speech to American Sign Language (ASL) and ASL-to-text via a graphical keyboard interface. The app will allow people to text or send audio to other coworkers. The app will then translate the audio or text to ASL when communicating with a user who knows ASL. For people who only communicate through ASL, the team will develop a graphical keyboard enabling users to chat in ASL and, depending on the user's choice, the text will be translated to English or kept in ASL.
Read the paper: CUNY - ASLNOW.pdf
PROJECT: Schedule and Structure
An app that aims to help individuals with autism and/or ADHD with organizing, planning and staying focused on tasks. The app will allow for collaboration between workers and supervisors. With its scheduling features, chat space and mood tracker, it will allow for greater ease of communication and building structure for their day.
Read the paper: CUNY - Schedule and Structure.pdf
Manhattan College
PROJECT: High-Res Headband Document Scanner & Transmitter
Smile Farms is a workplace that employs individuals with physical disabilities on various tasks ranging from watering plants to shredding paper in bulk. Randy, who works at Smile Farm, is immobile from neck down with some control over his fingers. He aspires to work in the paper scanning department and requested the team build a device to scan documents in a way that does not require him to use his hands. The team came up with the idea of creating a wireless scanner that could transmit the scanned documents to a computer without much, if any, human involvement needed.
Read the paper: Manhattan College - High Res HeadBand Scanner.pdf
PROJECT: Smart Register
Constructive Partnerships Unlimited has a location in the Bronx that is opening a cafeteria. Workers with disabilities at this location have trouble using the cash register. The Member Agency partner requested that the team develop a Smart Register as there are little to no smart cash registers that are designed for workers with disabilities. The team plans on using a system to scan currency with a camera. The system will recognize the currency and upload it to a touchscreen panel that is connected to an application. The application will then compute the change the worker needs to give to the customer.
Read the paper: Manhattan College - Smart Register.pdf
New York Institute of Technology
PROJECT: Shipping Material Process Improvement
A technology that standardizes the process of cutting and gluing specific cardboard shipping materials. The new technology will create a safe and productive environment to maximize the output of quality cardboard shipping materials, thus enabling AHRC to train more individuals with disabilities to produce the materials.
Read the paper: NYSID Competition 2022 Glue Assistance Robot.pdf
SUNY Albany
PROJECT: Paper Shredder Disposal System
One of the shredders in the Mail Fulfillment Center is difficult to empty. The process currently used is to place a cart with two bags under the shredder, wait until they are full, then remove the bags, lift them and throw all the paper into another box. Often, a worker with a disability has difficulty lifting the bag without assistance, reducing the worker’s productivity. The goal of the project is to make the process easier by allowing the worker to dispose of the paper through an automatic process, resulting in more efficiency.
Read the paper: SUNY Albany - Paper Shredder Disposal System.pdf
SUNY Polytechnic Institute
PROJECT: Slate Cleaning and Packaging
The main focus of this project is to improve the system currently in place to wash and package slate used to make cutting boards that come to them from a local quarry. The project aims to improve how they move the heavy slate from one station to the other as well as heavy buckets of cleaning liquid used to wash the slate.
Read the paper: SUNY Polytechnic - Slate Cleaning and Packaging.pdf
See below for a complete list of media coverage from this year’s event.
News 10:
https://www.news10.com/news/engineering-students-to-help-individuals-with-disabilities/
CBS Albany:
Manhattan College:
https://manhattan.edu/news/archive/2022/04/engineering-students-helping-people-with-disabilities.php
SUNY Polytechnic Institute:
WWLP 22:
https://www.wwlp.com/news/new-england/suny-poly-students-win-2nd-10k-at-2022-create-symposium/
SUNY Albany:
https://www.albany.edu/news-center/news/2022-engineering-solutions-people-living-disabilities
WNYT: