TECH 5262

Design for One

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2026-2027 Catalog.

Assistive technology is proof that a $25 microcontroller board can solve problems software can't — one-switch interfaces, reminder objects, sensory substitution — and "design for one, extend to many" is a storied design tradition (the OXO peeler started as a device for the founder's wife, who struggled with arthritic hands). Each student chooses one person they can actually reach — a grandparent, a roommate, themselves — observes one friction, and delivers a working, battery-powered device that addresses it. The no-internet constraint is the enabling constraint that enables: the device can't be discontinued, can't leak data, can't demand an update, and will still work in ten years. The course ends with a field-test story and a show and tell, and the object walks out of the room as a gift for the person it was built for.

Prerequisites TECH 5900.

Enrollment Information Enrollment limited to: non-first year Jacobs Cornell Tech Master's students.

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