Through the GoBabyGo program, that was established by Dr. Cole Galloway (University of Delaware), we will be working to modify kid’s battery powered toys to be used by kids as a low-cost powered wheelchair. We are modifying kid’s battery powered toys to be wheelchairs because there are more than 1.5 million children just in the United States that have trouble with mobility. There are wheelchairs that are made for children, but they can cost up to $25,000 and most of the time are not covered by insurance until the children are the age of five. We are also modifying battery powered toys for children because there are over 10,000 toy vehicles that only target 1% of the target population, not children with mobility problems. Since wheelchairs are so expensive most children do not get them until later in life, this is very limiting to children’s exploration.
GoBabyGo has already worked with families all over to modify toys for their children to play and use for mobility. Since GoBabyGo is already working with families we have our first task of this project is to modify a Power Wheels Jeep for a four-year-old child that is in town. We will be making the jeep easier for the child to use and hopefully show that these toys could be used by everyone with slight changes. Our second task that we will be working on is modifying the 360-degree toy bumper cars that kids can drive inside and outside. We are modifying the bumper car so there is only one controller, a way to always keep kids safe and for all kids to play with. Our project makes it so everyone can use the products, and no one will be left out and miss experiences [1].