March 28, 2022
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Springfield Technical Community College student Gabriel Luppi’s power wheelchair can move into a reclining position, tilt from side-to-side and elevate to help him see eye-to-eye.
“Wheelchairs have come a long way,” said 21-year-old Luppi, who has used them since he was a toddler. “I get the medical side of (the design), but that’s just boring. There’s nothing ever cool about them.”
But that may change soon through the Steampunk Quantum Wheelchair Collaborative Project. Luppi of Holyoke is teaming up with steampunk expert Bruce Rosenbaum and Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical School in Palmer to design a Quantum Power wheelchair that incorporates the visual aesthetics of steampunk, which combines history, art and technology to make inspiring, functional and personal products.
Rosenbaum, a nationally known artist and designer who lives in Palmer, owns a steampunk company called ModVic, which repurposes and infuses modern technology and gadgets into period-relevant antiques.
As part of the collaborative project, Luppi will design and be the recipient of the latest Quantum power wheelchair. Students from Pathfinder Tech will help transform the wheelchair into a custom – and “cool” – steampunk-style machine.
In an interview in the STCC mechanical engineering technology manufacturing lab in Springfield Technology Park, Luppi said he was excited to be part of the team. He shared ideas he has for the wheelchair design, noting that he can apply skills he’s learning at STCC to the project.
“My dad has 1950 and ‘51 Plymouths. He has extra parts for them, so he’s giving me the taillights,” Luppi said. “I want to take a Plymouth fender and size it down for a wheelchair. I told Bruce, and he said he likes the idea.”
Rosenbaum said Luppi’s design made him think of the DeLorean time machine car in “Back to the Future,” which syncs with the steampunk aesthetic.
Gabriel Luppi, STCC Mechanical Engineering Technology student
“I’ve got these ideas all the time. All I think about is drawing wheelchairs, making wheelchairs.”
“Gabe’s very excited about this,” Rosenbaum said. “He showed me some drawings he did in SolidWorks.”
SolidWorks is a solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) application used by students in the STCC mechanical engineering technology program.
Rosenbaum said he wants to involve Luppi as much as possible in the creation of the steampunk wheelchair. “We have to pay attention to his special needs,” Rosenbaum said. “It would be fun to do this fantastical assembly of these parts, and it has to be functioning of course. Because of his limited movements, he needs to easily adjust his chair.”
Luppi was born with arthrogryposis, a condition that affects his joints and restricts the use of his arms and legs. To push buttons on the computer numerical control (CNC) machines in the MET lab, he uses a stick that he holds in his mouth.
STCC has adapted the MET program to ensure accessibility for Luppi. He is more comfortable studying from home, so he has watched live lectures over Zoom.