Hello, I'm Stefano.

I go to a school called NuVu, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

We do a lot of engineering there.

I love engineering.

I use it to design things that people can use to help themselves.

My school was in touch with three organizations in Monterrey, Mexico.

We were in Monterrey for one week, and during this time, we met with many different organizations and families that told us their stories.

We worked with them to design and build devices that can help kids with cerebral palsy.

Kids with cerebral palsy are born with bodies that can't do everything they want them to.

Some activities are easy for kids with cerebral palsy, like going to school and making friends, but some are harder, like walking and talking.

Older kids with cerebral palsy who use a wheelchair need to have two people to lift them.

We wanted to make a wheelchair that allowed one person to lift a kid with cerebral palsy.

So we built a wheelchair prototype at NuVu, and later we got a chance to test it with real families in Mexico.

A prototype is a simple model that allows engineers to test whether their design works or not.

Before we went to Mexico, we spoke with families and organizations to find out about the needs of children with cerebral palsy.

We took inspiration from an aisle chair in an airplane to fit into the narrow hallways of homes in Monterrey.

We brainstormed our ideas.

Eventually we settled on a pulley system, which allows one person to move a child up and down to either a bed, dining table, or toilet.

We called our design Uplift.

The design worked with a series of eight pulleys and a hand crank, which worked so that if the user let go of the crank, the child would not come crashing to the ground.

It was a big challenge to design the pulley system for the Uplift.

We built the wheelchair from scratch.

We couldn't simply install the pulley system onto a traditional wheelchair, as it would make it too wide to fit into tight and narrow spaces.

When we went to Mexico, we met with kids and families and we were able to test the prototype.

They informed us that the chair needed to be more sturdy and also easier to clean.

So we changed the seat from wood to plastic.

We also added more beams for support.

After we made the changes, we left it with a family for them to use.

The Uplift chair is made with commonly found bike parts, so if it breaks, the engineers at Monterrey Tech can help fix it.

I hope to one day start a company that can make products like this to help benefit many families and their children.

Working with the families and engineers in Mexico helped me realize that not many products exist for children with cerebral palsy, and I want to change that.