Bioengineering professor uses toys to teach, rehabilitate

A step into Bioengineering Professor Daniel Bogen's office is immediately captivating -- and not only because of the soft-spoken, tea-drinking engineer behind the desk. The room is filled with color -- lovingly created pictures, a purple stuffed octopus and fat markers that beg to be picked up and experimented with. "People like to handle physical objects," noted Bogen, who coordinates the Penn Toys project for senior Bioengineering majors. Penn Toys -- one of two options Bioengineering majors have to fulfill the Engineering School's design project requirement -- allows students to design toys for children with disabilities. As a former doctor and father of three, Bogen is familiar with the allure of "playing" with toys. But beyond the initial appeal, he knows toys hold a far greater significance than being instruments for amusement. "Toys are not just a modern diversion," said Bogen, who cited the importance of toys for learning concepts like control of the environment and cause-effect relationships. "Toys are the original learning tool." But for disabled children who are unable to manipulate toys in the ways typical children can, toys are often inaccessible -- and so are many of the skills that come with playing. Four years ago, the 15-year Penn professor was going through a period in which he "was trying to focus on what was really important," and what he really "liked to do." Bogen found he could fulfill both of his aspirations in the area of rehabilitation-engineering -- an area that focuses on adapting devices for the disabled. During a visit to the Children's Seashore House, a University rehabilitation center, Bogen found an area where he -- and ultimately his students -- could make a difference. Now the project is called Penn Toys -- and in its four years of existence, the program has made significant progress in the area of rehabilitation-engineering by making toys adaptable for children with disabilities. Bogen initially tested the idea in a summer course he taught in 1992. After touring the Seashore House with his students, they devised a toy for a 4-year-old boy who had been paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident. "The students picked the most severely disabled kid to work with," Bogen recalled. "It was really a trial -- we didn't know where this was going." The class successfully created an electrically-powered "go-cart" that the boy could control by moving his head, which Bogen said was not only fun but also the child's "ticket to independence." Unique for its reliance on a team effort, Bogen's year-long Senior Design Project class is "much more like a real world experience" than most classes, according to Engineering senior Mark Pennisi. Held most days in the Penn Toys "lab," the class is strikingly different from most engineering classes. The lab is a bright, high-ceilinged room on the top floor of Hayden Hall. Many students work in groups, while others are stationed at sewing machines, computers or some of the advanced machinery the program has acquired over the years. "Most of the students have never seen equipment like this," Bogen said. It is technology that not only sets the classroom apart from others but also distinguishes the program from others in its field. The class also has access to substantial funds and resources throughout the University-- allowing the students to produce customized, reproducible toys that toy manufacturers often cannot produce. Bogen ultimately hopes to devise a computer program that will allow disabled children and their families to create products to fit their needs -- much like current computer programs that enable users to customize their kitchens. Noting that the students' goals get more ambitious every year, Pennisi said he is confident in the success of Bogen's ventures. "Every year, the toys are getting more complex," Pennisi said. "The program has really come a long way."