Purdue EPICS - Shape-Sorter (Mailbox) Game

August 2024 – May 2025

Goal: To build a sensory activity for children with specials needs to be played on horseback.

As a part of Purdue EPICS, a service-learning engineering project, my team and I built a shape-sorting game for the riders at Agape Therapeutic Riding.

We were inspired by the childhood shape-sorter game that helps develop motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Agape serves individuals and groups of all ages who have physical, emotional, cognitive, or social disabilities through various equine-assisted programs, and we wanted to design and build a game/incentive for their younger riders.

We named it “mailbox” because our initial CAD resembled one. Each unit would be a different color, and the game pieces would also be painted to match the color of their respective boxes.

After working on the preliminary design and CAD, we moved to the prototyping phase. For our prototype, we built a box with holes in the front piece and a door on the side to be able to take the pieces out.

• During this stage I did the CAD, and marked and cut the wood using the table saw.
• My teammates, used the router and Jig Saw to cut holes for the shapes.
• Together we fastened the box using screws, a drill and an impact drill

We got feedback from experts in the field during our design review, and adjusted the design to make the front panel removable. This would allow us to provide our community partner with new panel designs over the years and make it easier for the user to take the pieces out. We made another prototype to reflect these new ideas. The panels would be laser cut from acrylic.

Simultaneously, I started to work on the CAD designs for the pegs and 3D printed prototypes of them.

When we received the PLA printed parts, we quickly realized that they were not strong enough to handle drops from high heights, and it would take a lot of time and filament to manufacture 30 pieces. So, after a few decision matrices and conversations, we decided to use the CNC wood mill to make the pieces.

• I created the CAM and set up the toolpaths for the process
• I faced an issue of the wood piece moving during the milling process because I had not clamped it tightly enough. With not enough time left to come another day, I used the bandsaw to cut the cuboidal shaped pieces since the rest had been cut.
• I also painted the pieces and drilled holes for the eye screws.
• I chose to use eye screws because they were easy to grab for the children, and did not have any sharp edges (to prevent injury).

We ordered all the materials, and started construction of five mailboxes. We used the table saw to cut the wood to size, the router for the channels, the drill press and drill gun for holes, and the impact driver for fastening.

We first painted the pieces white and then applied their final colors.

Once we put everything together, we were able to deliver the project at the community partner’s site.

Although I’m no longer a part of Purdue EPICS, this project, which spanned my freshman year in college, taught me a lot about research, collaboration, and community service. And as design lead, I enjoyed leading the design process by ensuring the team stayed aligned with project timelines and design goals.