UConn Engineering Seniors Building a 'Better Ramp'

STORRS, CT — An engineering team at the University of Connecticut is set to demonstrate its prototype for what is being billed as "an affordable, ADA-compliant, sustainably produced, easy-to-assemble accessibility ramp."

The ramp is to be on display at Friday's School of Engineering Demonstration Day at Gampel Pavilion.

The UConn engineering team is made up of Eddy Ramos, who has a "deep interest" in design and manufacturing; Kaley Luk who has a passion for sustainability; Patrick Miconi, who enjoys hands-on projects, and Leila Awad, who wants to one day work in project management.

The four UConn seniors, all working toward graduating from the UConn School of Engineering this May, first met when chosen to work together as a team on their Senior Design project last fall. Senior Design is a hallmark of the School of Engineering’s undergraduate programs. The two-semester course, a graduation requirement, engages students as teams that work to solve real-life engineering problems for industry and private sponsors. Students learn and experience the importance of schedules, communication, budget constraints, goal setting, deliverables, customer expectations, and solving problems – like the problem of how to build a better, affordable, sustainable, and modular accessibility ramp.

In the fall, the team also began researching and sourcing material options, which proved challenging as supply-chain issues in late 2022 made ordering the recycled high-density polyethylene, or HDPE, lumber they hoped to use more difficult. The team eventually settled on using a sustainable HDPE fiberglass lumber made from recycled milk jugs and laundry detergent containers as their primary material.

The final design relies on an aluminum angle that acts as a frame to support the beams and handrail sections, which are made to be interchangeable and optimized to use simple bolts to connect the pieces together. The universality of the pieces not only makes manufacturing easier, the students explain, it also helps ensure that the ramp can be customized to fit each person’s home, doorway, and yard.

See more on the ramp on the UConn Today site.