ADAPT - Automatic Dispenser & Assistive Powered Twister

The Project

I started this project right after receiving some motors from my automation pre-college program at NYU Tandon. I was experimenting with placing a motor at the base of a deodorant stick to twist it up automatically. When my grandma saw what I was building, she suggested it could help people with Parkinson's disease or limited fine motor control. I took that direction and ran with it — marketing the initial prototype on TikTok under the name Yard Mon Robotics, where I built an audience and crowdfunded materials, including a 3D printer, to keep iterating on the design. From there I built a stationary version and 3D printed a moldable TPU grip that can flex to fit a wide range of deodorant twisters and rotate them. In a later iteration, I improved accessibility by replacing the button trigger with an ultrasonic sensor, so users no longer need to press anything—the presence of a hand activates the device. I showcased the invention at my school's Day of Tech event, and in parallel, reached out to people with motor-skill disabilities to user-test the product and provide feedback. The hardest part was working on it alone and sourcing funding entirely on my own. A close second was finding the right material for a universal grip that could reliably hold and rotate the wide variety of deodorant shapes on the market.

View this project on YouTube