Benedictine engineering students design wheelchair for inclusive races

Benedictine College mechanical engineering seniors built an adjustable racing wheelchair aimed at one simple barrier: children with disabilities who cannot safely or comfortably race on their own. The prototype, created with Ainsley’s Angels of America, is designed for an Angel Runner to push an Angel Rider through endurance events so more local families can take part together.

The chair was built for more than one type of rider. Ainsley’s Angels says its equipment needs to work for different abilities and on changing terrain, which is why the students focused on an adjustable seat. The organization’s chair-grant program also points to features such as a reclining seat, a quick-folding design and a 16-inch wheel meant to handle roads, paths and race courses at running or walking speeds.

For Brendan Baier, the project carried a personal weight. He said he has a nephew with cerebral palsy and has seen how much joy these kinds of events can bring. Along with teammates Chase Robertson and Paul Wilkin, Baier treated the assignment as more than fabrication. The work involved modeling, design drawings, testing and building a chair that could become part of a real race-day experience.

That practical focus is exactly how Benedictine’s mechanical engineering senior design course is structured. Students must partner with an outside sponsor to design and prototype a technical solution to a real problem, and Patrick O’Malley, who chairs the Benedictine College School of Engineering, said the project fit the college’s goal of putting student talent in service to others. O’Malley, who also teaches mechanical engineering and has been recognized with the American Society for Engineering Education MidWest Section Outstanding Teaching Award, said the students were asked to solve an outside-client need, not just complete a classroom exercise.

The partner organization gives the project a national reach. Ainsley’s Angels of America, based in Virginia Beach, says it operates in nearly 70 locations across more than 30 states and allows anyone whose disability prevents them from racing on their own to participate as an Angel Rider. Founded in 2011 by Kim and Lori Rossiter, the nonprofit was inspired by their daughter, Ainsley Rossiter, who died in 2016 at age 12.

In Atchison, where Benedictine College has been rooted since 1858, the wheelchair project connected that national mission to a local classroom. For families who have been shut out of traditional races by mobility barriers, the result could mean a place on the course, not just at the finish line.