An interdisciplinary partnership at the University of Scranton is pressing the gas on the Go Baby Go! mobility program for community children with disabilities.

Go Baby Go! is a national and international program with multiple chapters. The goal of Go Baby Go! is to customize a toy electric car so that it is accessible and safe for a child with individual needs. Occupational therapy professor Stephanie DeNaples started the University of Scranton chapter.  

Edward Leahy Hall room 442 will be the workshop space for about 10 mechanical engineering students and 30 occupational therapy and physical therapy students. Students will work together for the next three months alongside professors and select families to build modified ride-on cars. The riders will be children from the ages of three to five.

Senior occupational therapy major Brooke Lynch is one of the project’s team leaders and student researchers. Lynch further explained their mission.

“Our mission of the Go Baby Go project at the University of Scranton is to support kids being kids through innovative, cost-effective and inclusive solutions to promote mobility, play participation and socialization. We want to provide kids and their families with modified ride-on cars to promote their social participation and engagement within the community,” Lynch said.  

Senior mechanical engineering major and operations management minor Mitchell Sporing is another project leader. Go Baby Go! gives mechanical engineering majors in the Physics and Engineering Department an opportunity to be community-facing, Sporing said.

The collaboration will require students to function in teams blended with various skill and knowledge levels. Occupational therapy and physical therapy students will contribute by providing measurements, insights and suggested modifications to the build after they meet with the children.  

“We can suggest a different turn on, and off switch based on the child’s ability to grasp. It is all dependent on the child and their needs, and that's where occupational therapy students can shine in our ability to advocate for the children,” Lynch said.  

Mechanical engineering students will use their input to supply the technical know-how. For example, the students anticipate rewiring cars to have a push button accelerator on the steering wheel instead of the ground if the child cannot use their feet, Sporing said.

Modifications can mean adjusting the car to incorporate an oxygen tank or installing PVC supports for the children that are padded with pool noodles and felt. Teams can offer steering alternatives like joysticks or a bar system the child can pull left or right.

“We kind of create the muscle behind the design part because [the OTs/PTs] have the knowledge of what needs to be done but not necessarily the manufacturing skills that would come with mechanical engineering classes,” Sporing said.

The top concern is meeting health and safety requirements. Designs will include an emergency stop feature and a remote control for parents. Decorating the car is the second priority.

The mechanical engineering students have 3D printers and Cricut cutting machines as resources to make specific car decals. Cars can be bedazzled or decorated to fit a theme like Batman, Sporing said.

The project is being financed by a grant that was approved at the end of the fall semester, Sporing said. The funding has the capacity to support the project for the next three years and allow them to grow toward modifying 20 ride-on cars each year.

This year the students plan to create around 10 to 12 cars for five or six families. Families participating in the project were chosen based on a series of factors considered to ensure the child’s needs could be fully met, Sporing said.

The University of Scranton Go Baby Go! chapter first met in early February. The first of three Saturday workshops with the families was Feb. 24.  

The Scranton chapter of Go Baby Go! plans to host a reveal day in early May for the children and their families. To watch their design journey follow their Instagram (uofs_gobabygo).