Honors Engineers Break Barriers with Brass
By Shelby Gill / Photos by Russell CothrenWhen Aztlan Dominguez Fitzmaurice, 13, is practicing his trombone at home, his dad, Mauricio Dominguez, holds the instrument and moves the slide back and forth while Aztlan blows into the mouthpiece. His favorite piece to play is “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones. Fortunately, his dad also played brass growing up, so he’s a natural assistant.
If he’s practicing with the band at Siloam Springs Middle School, an aide helps Aztlan operate the instrument, but as a musician, he said it’s frustrating not to be able to play himself.
Aztlan’s range of motion is limited by a condition called arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, or AMC. With AMC, he has muscle contractures in both his arms and legs, and as of now, there is no cure for the condition. Aztlan uses a motorized wheelchair to navigate the world, but his decreased mobility hasn’t prevented his determination to try new things; he just approaches them differently.
“I can’t do things the same way as others,” Aztlan shared. “I get to learn how to do it my own way.”
When Aztlan expressed interest in joining the school band, his mom, Wendy Fitzmaurice, reminded him he could always choose another instrument that may be easier to play with his physical limitations. The school even offered for him to switch to the euphonium. But Aztlan was absolute: “No, I really want to play the trombone.”
“I am proud of him,” Fitzmaurice said with the knowing smile of a mother. “He can play the instrument he chose.”
Music is just one of Aztlan’s many interests. He likes experimenting in science class, playing video games, hanging out with friends, tinkering on new inventions with his robotics team or playing with his dog, Rooster. He has big dreams, like becoming a race car driver or building robots.
His Lego robotics team, the Shadow Bots, recently won first place in robot design at the state level. At the beginning of the year, the team tried to create a device to help Aztlan play the trombone.
“We were really close to figuring it out,” he said. “But we didn’t have enough resources or time to finish it.”
Grace Harding (right) visits Siloam Springs Middle School to show Aztlan Dominguez Fitzmaurice (right) and his father, Mauricio Dominguez (middle), the computer-aided drafts of the wearable device.
Grace Harding, an honors computer engineering major and president of the U of A Robotics Interdisciplinary Organization of Teams (RIOT), heard about Aztlan’s story through the Honors Futures Hub and wanted to find a solution. Harding, from Fayetteville, Arkansas, linked up with Hayden Threlfall, an honors computer science major and friend from high school, to brainstorm solutions. Together, they found two other students in RIOT who wanted to join the project and applied for an Honors Research Team Grant.
“This isn’t our honors thesis,” Harding noted. Even without side projects, the engineering coursework is rigorous, so finding a team of students, from different engineering concentrations — who could all contribute their expertise and share accountability — was key. “One of the tenets of RIOT is outreach, and we want to use robotics to help the community.”
Through meeting with Aztlan, the group studied the linear action of the trombone slide and the design specs of his wheelchair to ideate a solution for mounting the instrument and assisting him in playing entirely independently. The goal is to operate the device through Bluetooth and connect it to the joystick on his wheelchair. Aztlan will move the joystick forward and back to control the trombone slide while blowing into the instrument.
“We were inspired by the arm of a 3D printer,” Threlfall said. “The linear action is similar to that of a trombone, so we are trying to make the arm slide even more accurate and beef up the motor” to hit each pitch of the instrument precisely.
When taking on this project, Harding reflected on her experience in extracurricular activities as a teenager and how they shaped her future.
“It’s really important to be able to participate,” she said, recalling the friendships she forged at Haas Hall Academy. “You learn emotional regulation and find tools for self-expression.”
Aside from coupling the device with the wheelchair, the group’s challenge has been creating a wearable device that can grow with Aztlan as he ages and switches to a larger trombone. It’s a delicate balance between designing generally enough so he can swap instrument models as he progresses in his skill yet specific enough to his body that it is comfortable for him to use.
Throughout the past year, the team has developed computer-aided drafting of their invention, and they are now in the process of building the device in the Prime Lab on campus.
The opportunity to design and build a novel wearable has allowed the honors students to flex and hone new skills. Harding is headed to an internship at JMP Solutions, a local robotics company, and she hopes that experience will further aid her in building the device for Aztlan.
“I’ll learn new things and professional methods [for approaching] engineering problems,” she said. “I hope to bring [those skills] back with me so I can make his [device] even better.”