This month, IATP Makers teamed up with the Tech Kitchen to meet with an individual to assess her needs in her kitchen. Penny is a new IATP client who benefits from both IATP’s Reuse and Makers program. Penny is a wheelchair user who enjoys baking in her free time, but she would love to be more independent as well as bake safely. Before meeting with Penny and providing her with useful assistive technology (AT), she was unsafely bending over from her wheelchair and reaching the stove knobs positioned on the back of her stove.
Our Makers designed and fabricated a 27” Stove Knob Reacher that was printed using our large format FDM 3D printer, to accommodate the length required for Penny to safely turn on her stove burners from a seated position. The Extended Reacher was fully printed in all layers in a strong, durable plastic material that can withhold heat up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, making this AT acceptable for reaching the back of the stove.
This fabricated device will be available on our website for others who will benefit from it to print or request. The design unit will be modified to accommodate a “modular” approach, which the individual will be able to switch out the knob turner unit on the end to provide access to a variety of other uses.
