How do students in Penn ADAPT translate classroom learning into real medical devices for clinical and community use?
In the operating room, every second counts. As a procedure ends, the surgical team must account for every instrument used, which can sometimes consist of one hundred individual tools. The process is manual and time-consuming, but critical to patient safety.
At the University of Pennsylvania, students in Penn ADAPT, a student-led organization focused on assistive technology and medical device design, are working to streamline that process. This year, the organization is supported by faculty advisor Michelle Johnson, Associate Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, with secondary appointments in Bioengineering, and Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics. Open to students across the University, the group brings together members from Penn Engineering, the College and Wharton to design solutions for real-world challenges. Among them are Co-President Jonathan Largoza (BE’27) and Vice President, Andrew Yao (BE’28), two Bioengineering students contributing to projects that reflect both the technical depth and interdisciplinary nature of the organization.
Engineering Solutions for the Operating Room
Yao has spent the past two years working on a surgical tool-checking system designed to assist operating room staff. The goal is to reduce the time required to manually count instruments while maintaining accuracy in a high-stakes environment.
“In the operating room, you typically have a nurse or a nurse technician who counts instruments before and after each surgery,” Yao explains. “And depending on the surgery… it can take a while to count, anywhere from like 10 to 15 minutes.”
The team’s approach combines mechanical design, electronics and computer vision. A mounted system captures images of the sterile field, while a machine learning model identifies and counts instruments in real time. Building that system requires more than writing code. It means understanding how each component interacts within a larger system.
“Even once we have the computer vision model working, that’s not enough,” Yao says. “Having to integrate that within a new subsystem is always a challenge… how are we going to outsource the computing… are we going to connect to the Wi-Fi… are we going to have to use AWS to run the model?”
One of the biggest obstacles was data. Existing image datasets did not reflect how instruments appear during surgery, often stacked closely together rather than laid flat. To address this, the team reached out to clinicians at Penn Medicine and began building their own dataset.
“We went in over the summer… and took pictures of different orientations of instruments,” Yao says.
For Yao, the project extends concepts introduced in Bioengineering coursework into a more complex, real-world setting.
“In class, you might get to the finished vision model,” he says. “But then having to integrate that within a new subsystem is always a challenge.”
Designing Assistive Devices for Everyday Accessibility
While Yao’s work focuses on clinical environments, Largoza’s projects center on community-based partnerships, particularly with the Pennsylvania Center for Adaptive Sports (PCAS).
One of his earlier projects addressed a practical challenge faced by adaptive cycling programs. Riders require customized pedals, which must be swapped frequently depending on the user. The process can be time-intensive and, if done incorrectly, can damage equipment.
“A bike will get used by four, five, six different people,” Largoza says. “That’s a lot to manage for the volunteers… and they’re not mechanical engineering experts.”
His team developed a quick-release pedal system inspired by hose coupling mechanisms, allowing for faster and more reliable exchanges.
“It’d be a one-time installation, and we wouldn’t have to further worry about it,” he explains.
The project involved multiple rounds of computer-aided design (CAD), prototyping and testing, with plans to explore stronger materials like carbon fiber and real-world stress testing.
“We’ve had several iterations of CADing and 3D printing… and we’re still optimizing,” Largoza says.
More recently, Largoza has been working on a project designed to help athletes with limited use of one arm independently secure their footwear. The team is exploring mechanisms including velcro and even magnets that allow for one-handed tightening, drawing inspiration from existing systems while adapting them for accessibility.
“We want that sort of sense of autonomy and independence… but it’s very difficult to do that with one hand,” he says.
The design process has been iterative, moving through multiple concepts and refining based on usability and durability.
“It’s a very reiterative process… trying to optimize those CADs.”
From Coursework to Application
For both students, Penn ADAPT provides an environment where classroom concepts are applied in tangible ways. Largoza points to early exposure to design tools through coursework as foundational to his work.
“BE1000 [Introduction to Bioengineering] actually gave me my very initial exposure to CAD… and then BE3090 [Bioengineering Modeling, Analysis and Design Laboratory I] and BE3100 [Bioengineering Modeling, Analysis and Design Laboratory II]… taught me the skills I needed for SOLIDWORKS.”
Yao highlights how coursework in computing and electronics translates directly into project work.
“ENGR 1050 [Introduction to Scientific Computing]… introduced me a lot to image classification, AI models, and neural networks,” he says. “In the context of ‘how can we apply this to an actual surgical dataset’… that’s kind of an extension of what we learn in class.”
At the same time, both emphasize that Penn ADAPT goes beyond technical skill-building. Projects require integrating multiple disciplines and adapting to real-world constraints.
“I’ve learned a lot about how mechanical and electrical work very, very closely… and then how software integrates into that is also a challenge,” Yao says.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Penn ADAPT’s interdisciplinary structure shapes both the design process and the solutions themselves. Students from across the University contribute different technical backgrounds and perspectives, often learning from one another in real time.
“It’s great having an interdisciplinary team,” Largoza says. “People… bring a very different perspective to the group.”
In some cases, those perspectives are directly tied to lived experience. On Largoza’s current project, a team member with a prosthetic leg who previously participated in adaptive sports contributes firsthand insight into user needs.
“That was a great addition to the team because you definitely get more of the user perspective,” he says.
For Yao, collaboration across disciplines enhances both leadership and learning.
“I feel like I’m constantly learning,” he says. “It’s more just like a whole team kind of collaborative project at the end of the day.”
The organization’s structure reflects that approach. Members work in project teams with designated leads, while the broader group shares feedback through design reviews and regular check-ins.
Scaling Student-Driven Innovation
Since returning to full operations in 2022, Penn ADAPT has expanded significantly, growing in both membership and project scope. For Largoza, that growth signals the organization’s trajectory.
“When I joined… [there were] only three projects,” he says. “But now we have eight different projects… so I think our growth is a great indicator for where the club is headed.”
Yao sees that growth reflected in the organization’s increasing impact, both locally and beyond.
“The growth of our club has also expanded the impact we’ve had in the Philadelphia community,” he says.
As projects mature, teams are moving beyond early prototypes toward testing, deployment and broader implementation. One such project, their low-cost switch interface, has been brought to schools and disability organizations internationally through emerging global partnerships.
“You might see these projects as a small-scale thing,” Yao says. “But once they develop into mature projects and products, they can create such a big impact for different communities.”
With projects spanning clinical environments and community partnerships, Penn ADAPT offers Bioengineering students a space to explore the full range of their field. For Largoza and Yao, that means not only building technical skills, but also contributing to solutions that extend beyond the classroom.
“I personally saw the tangible impact… different devices might have on people,” Yao says. “And that connection is really big to me.”
