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When four OU engineering students were given the task of creating a device to help local woman Linda Shannon, who has cerebral palsy, they did not take the easy way out — they built an original design suited to her needs.

The project idea came about in the spring of 2007, when engineering professor Kuang-Hua Chang sought a project that would allow students to “apply their skills to do something meaningful by making something that helps mankind.”

"Chang sought a project that would allow students to apply their skills to do something meaningful by making something that helps mankind."

This was the reason Uriah Hughes, Paul Schoelen, Jared Arney and Scott Herrmann, mechanical engineering seniors, tackled the project, Hughes said.

“We signed up because it looked like something that was fun and rewarding,” Hughes said. “It was a class, but it also had something worthwhile behind it.”

With the help of Chang, the students built a device that allows Shannon to independently transport herself from her bed to her wheelchair.

“The design is based on a Jim Crane, a pole bolted into the ground,” Schoelen said. “It has a body support that goes under her arms and legs. And with the use of her remote control, Shannon can make it swing her out of her wheelchair and lower her into her bed and vice versa.”

Because of the specifics of Shannon’s disabilities, the group found the need to create something almost completely new.

"The extra effort the students put into the project is what made it different from others."

“Basically there were some solutions that would kind of work but nothing that would fit Linda’s needs,” Hughes said. “We took from a lot of sources, but it is a very unique design.”

Schoelen said he and the other students keep in contact with Shannon, which allows them to make additional changes to the device, such as an additional handlebar or a part that would make the device more effective.

The crew even painted the device crimson, per her request.

The extra effort the students put into the project is what made it different from others, Chang said.

“I see not only the boys’ effort but their heart, compassion and thoughtfulness,” he said.

While a degree in mechanical engineering does not generally lead to this type of humanitarian work, all of the team members would be thrilled to do it again, Hughes said.