College - Author 1

College of Engineering

Department - Author 1

Mechanical Engineering Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BS in Mechanical Engineering

College - Author 2

College of Engineering

Department - Author 2

Mechanical Engineering Department

Degree - Author 2

BS in Mechanical Engineering

College - Author 3

College of Engineering

Department - Author 3

Mechanical Engineering Department

Degree - Author 3

BS in Mechanical Engineering

College - Author 4

College of Engineering

Department - Author 4

Mechanical Engineering Department

Degree - Author 4

BS in Mechanical Engineering

Date

6-2026

Primary Advisor

Sarah Harding, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Department

Abstract/Summary

Adaptive physical education presents the unique challenge of accommodating individuals with diverse physical and cognitive abilities. Instructors and program designers must often integrate specialized equipment, fixtures, or features to ensure activities remain safe, inclusive, and user-friendly. Beyond accessibility, adaptive physical education highlights the importance of empowerment— enabling every participant to experience personal growth, confidence, and connection through movement. Friday Club, a local San Luis Obispo program supported by Cal Poly’s Kinesiology Department, embodies these values by providing adaptive physical activities that promote health and well-being for individuals with varying abilities. One of the most popular and regularly held activities is a variation of the traditional ten-pin bowling game. Currently, facilitators such as student aids must manually retrieve scattered pins and thrown equipment. This leads to an extended downtime between rounds, which reduces participants’ physical engagement. This project aims to develop a pin-resetting system that reduces setup time. This will allow facilitators to focus on providing physical assistance to the members and enable the participants to engage more independently with the activity. Our team hopes that the confidence Friday Club members can achieve through the interaction with the updated bowing system will extend beyond the program as well. This project will be completed by a team of four senior California Polytechnic University mechanical engineering students, Nathan Lin, Aiden Foote, Luis Torres, and Jill Worthington. Funding is provided by the Cal Poly TECHE Lab, and the primary users will be members of Friday Club with the potential to expand to other adaptive physical education programs.

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