NSF-Funded Student Design Projects:
Adapted Manual Ribbon Cutter

Designer: Vijay Gummadi
Client Coordinator: April Saval
Services to Enhance Potential (STEP)
Supervisor: Robert Erlandson, Ph.D.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202

INTRODUCTION

Services to Enhance Potential provides supported employment services for persons with developmental disabilities. It is sometimes difficult, however, to successfully place individuals with serious disabilities due to their skill level and/or inability to adapt to current job tasks as required by the employer. One such activity involves cutting ribbon to specific lengths. Before the intervention, the worker measured the ribbon manually with a ruler and cut it into 15” lengths with scissors. This method not only required a great deal of staff intervention, but it posed a danger to the worker. The intervention posed by the Enabling Technologies Lab allows the worker to pull the ribbon from a spool to a clearly marked point on a wooden frame and cut it with an enclosed roller blade (figure 1).

SUMMARY OF IMPACT

The Ribbon Cutter intervention reduces both the cognitive and physical requirements of the task; thus, the worker is able to work more independently than before with less threat of physical harm. The cutting device is completely enclosed in a wooden casing so that the worker cannot cut himself, and the length to which the ribbon should be cut is clearly marked on the wooden base of the device. With the length marked, the worker does not have to manipulate a ruler. Due to this intervention, the targeted worker has a competitive job in his community and brings home a paycheck every week like the rest of his family. Working allows the person to become a significant contributor to his community and follow in the natural transition from school to work. The ribbon cutter intervention has enabled this person to be more independent and presents another means of placing people with disabilities into jobs in their communities.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

The Ribbon Cutter consists of a wooden spool casing, a roller blade and roller blade track set on a 30” x 12” piece of plywood. To meet the targeted worker’s needs, the spool casing was constructed to the following specifications:

(1) Be able to easily replace an empty spool with a new one
(2) Prevent the user from knowing the amount of ribbon left on the spool
(3) Offer sufficient resistance to the free flow of ribbon off of the spool
(4) Be able to easily roll excess ribbon back onto the spool.

With the ribbon spool in place, the user grasps the end of the ribbon and pulls it underneath the blade track to a plastic marker at the end of the wooden base. A rubber stopper on the bottom of the spool casing prevents the spool from unwinding freely and presenting the worker with more ribbon than he needs.  When the ribbon is unwound to the correct position, a piece of Velcro™ holds the ribbon in place while the user rolls the blade down the blade track, cutting the material (figure 1).

This method of cutting ribbon allows for consistently accurate measurements with minimal staff supervision. It is simple to use and maintain, and costs approximately $70 for the materials and machining of parts.