Posted on June 15: Mech-A-Wish makes the ‘A’ grade with McMaster Children’s Hospital patients, visitors

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/MechaWish.jpg” caption=”Mech-A-Wish”]Imagine a giant game of Mousetrap built out of Tinker Toys.

Three engineering students did just that, building a sophisticated game designed to make young patients at the McMaster Children's Hospital smile and raise money for the hospital at the same time.

The McMaster graduates earned an 'a' for their final year project dubbed Mech-A-Wish that put their mechanical engineering skills to the test. The brightly coloured kinetic display features 20 different mechanisms performing a different action with a
raveling ball. The device is activated with a loonie or toonie coin donation.

Dean Elbestawi, remarked “it is important in the education of our students in mechanical engineering to have applied design projects for our students to work on. This project shows a high degree of innovation with a wonderful opportunity to be utilized by the Children's Hospital.”

Students on the team, Brian Wilson, Ruger Johnsen and Morgan Curran-Blaney, were supervisor by professor Tim Nye, mechanical engineering.

The Mech-A-Wish is on permanent display in 3B/3C Lounge, McMaster Children's Hospital, McMaster University Medical Centre.

Photo caption: Brian Wilson, right, and Haley Bartlett, a patient from the McMaster Children's Hospital, examine Mech-a-Wish, the device that Wilson and his fellow students designed as part of their final year project in mechanical engineering. Photo credit: Peter Foulds.