Design and Development of an Assistive Buoy for Cerebral Palsy Hydrotherapy activities

Abstract

Hydrotherapy is considered as one form of treatment in children suffering from cerebral palsy using the buoyancy technique for training to give freedom to the child compared with normal physical treatment. The problem faced by the trainer at the Center for Cerebral Palsy can be solved by using this buoyancy aid. Normally, a coach needs a lot of energy to help these children while undergoing hydrotherapy treatments. This is because, every size and gender are also factors contributing to the coach had to lift them particularly female coaches. This is due to hormonal factors and age, usually boys who have reached puberty, their nature and temperament are the same as with normal children. So to reduce this problems, some better equipment for helping the trainer in the Centre should be made for them. The other problem is because the prices an equipment in the market are very high cost. So to help them, a simple and inexpensive equipment used with low cost material but good quality should be established to assist them. Design and development of functional specifications created to measure quality and make the difference between existing products. Some concept that have been showed will be select and the best selection will be go through the screening and scoring process. Technical drawings and analysis also be made by using the design program CATIA. In addition, material selection is done by identifying the design requirements. In addition, analysis of the product will also provide a number of advantages to choosing the right material for the product. The calculation is to find out the buoyancy of water and suitability of materials to be used in the product. The cost is calculated and some abilities compared to other products. For the comparison, although it is similar in design to other products, but it is more durable and the price is also more affordable for customers. The weaknesses products are being identified and recommendations made to improve the product in the future.