Photo submitted/Red Deer Polytechnic.
Red Deer Polytechnic (RDP), Canadian Sport Institute Calgary (CSIC), and Bowhead Corp. are collaborating to revolutionize parasport equipment used by para-athletes across the country in training and competition.
The project, Increasing Accessibility to Specialized Parasport Equipment Across Canada Through Advanced Design and Manufacturing, is worth $860,000.
The project is supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Applied Research and Development (ARD) grant of $450,000 and an Alberta Innovates Campus Alberta Small Business Engagement (CASBE) grant of $300,000.
CSIC has also contributed $110,000 toward the project. The funds will be distributed over three years.
“We are grateful for these investments which help integrate sports, multi-disciplinary applied research, and advanced manufacturing to develop customized parasport equipment and reduce barriers for Canadian athletes,” said Dr. Tonya Wolfe, Associate Vice President, of Applied Research, at RDP. “This is an exciting project and is one example of how RDP’s multi-disciplinary approach in applied research, along with enhanced partnerships, help to address the needs of people, industry, and communities across Canada.”
RDP staff and the institution’s Centre for Innovation in Manufacturing–Technology Access Centre (CIM-TAC) will help to create inclusive and cost-effective designs that address a national shortage of tailored sports equipment for para-athletes.
As a Technology Access Centre, the CIM-TAC houses $7.6 million in specialized equipment and is a key on-campus hub of the Alberta innovation community that focuses on product development and improvement through innovative technical services.
Initially, the project focused on para ice hockey, leveraging Statistical Shape Modeling (SSM), a technological tool to analyze images, to create affordable, customizable sledges, but will expand to other sports.
RDP and partners will integrate knowledge from athletics and assistive devices to optimize the performance and comfort of parasport equipment while evaluating a variety of factors such as pressure distribution, range of motion, and speed.
The collaboration provides unique industry-relevant opportunities for RDP students, as five students have been hired to work on the project during the summer.
Through the project, RDP staff have the opportunity to share their expertise and experiences with global experts at the SPort INnovation Summit held March 31-April 2 in Calgary.
Jennifer Dornstauder, Engineering Technical Lead, CIM-TAC, and Prateeksha Aggarwal, Industrial Research Associate, CIM-TAC, will present Adaptive Design in Paralympic Sport at the Summit.
**With information provided by Red Deer Polytechnic
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