ATU703 – Make Good Inc with Ashley Volion and Phillip Dunham

Hi, I’m Ashley Volion, Communication Director at MakeGood Inc.

Hi, this is Philip Dunham and I’m the Head of Design and Manufacturing for MakeGood. This is your Assistive Technology Update.

Hello and welcome to your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist individuals with disabilities and special needs. I’m your host, Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. Welcome to episode 703 of Assistive Technology Update. It is scheduled to be released on November 15th, 2024. On today’s show, we are joined by Ashley and Philip. They are both from MakeGood Inc, and they’re here to tell us about all the amazing things that MakeGood does.

Don’t forget listeners, we always love your feedback. So if you’d like to reach out to us, call our listener line at (317) 721-7124, or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. You can find this podcast as a transcript and all our other great services through INDATA at eastersealstech.com, so check that out if you do get time. But for right now, let’s go ahead and get on with the show. Listeners, our guests today are here from Make Good Inc. And they’re here to tell us how MakeGood Inc is making good on the promise of a more accessible tomorrow with the services and different very cool stuff that they provide. Ashley, Philip, welcome to the show.

Thank you.

Thanks for having us.

Most definitely. Thanks for agreeing to be on. Before we get into talking about all the great things at MakeGood, could you tell our listeners a little bit about yourselves?

So, hi, I’m Ashley Volion. I’m the Communications Director at MakeGood Inc. I also work at Disability Rights for Louisiana as a Policy Analyst. And I came to Inc as a service recipient. So I came to it needing assistive technology myself, and that’s what really got me to love and appreciate what they do here at MakeGood Inc.

Nice. And Philip?

Yeah, I’m Philip Dunham. I’m Head of Design and Manufacture with MakeGood. I got involved with them meeting Noam about a year ago. And then he and I started talking a bunch more. We started sharing ideas about different devices, some stuff that I needed. And then he asked me to start giving him some input to work on ideas for other people. And then eventually, he asked me to do this full-time with him.

Nice. Excellent. And I always love finding an organization that employs folks who really understand the mission, maybe from a different standpoint than just somebody submitting a resume and coming on. So on to MakeGood, could you tell me when it was started and maybe why it was initially started up?

So MakeGood was started in 2021 by our founder and president, Noam Platt. And he is an architectural designer for healthcare facilities and he came upon it from, he was originally part of a hackathon and he got a 3D printer and started playing around with it, and then started making devices for people around the community. And that’s how it all started to snowball and come about.

Yeah. And I think until we met him, it was just Noam by himself. So up until last year, it was just him. And then this past year I joined, Ashley joined. And we have six people now, I think, me, Noam, Raleigh, Zoe, and James.

Yeah.

Nice. So really growing, that’s always a really great thing. Well, you’ve just touched on some of the things, but I guess we need to start big picture. So what kind of services does MakeGood offer?

Well, we started making devices that people would request. Noam got started doing that. He had originally made a toilet share for a family that he had been introduced to. And I think he had submitted that in a hackathon, that was I think, the first thing Noam had made and designed. And then I think he had started just taking requests that he would get. And now, I mean, that’s how I got involved. Somebody passed me or gave me his Instagram and then I got in touch with him. And since then, it’s really we’ll take requests. I’ve made some things that I’ve made myself out of need. But yeah, it’s a lot of requests or interaction that we have with community members like Ashley or other examples. But we also interact with occupational, physical therapists and other clinicians.

And I also know when you first started, he started making things like writing devices. And he also made me this customized phone holder that also had a reacher holder on it.

Oh, nice.

He did several recently, Philip, and no one did a 3D printed ramp for someone.

Oh, wow.

So it’s really customizable to people’s needs and what they need to make their life function.

Yeah. And so it’s a lot of things, like Ashley said, that people need every day. And it tends to be things that need to be customized in a way that is specific to either an individual or maybe a small group of people. So a lot of these things that we’re trying to solve problems for aren’t ever going to be commercial, because of the level of customization needed. So we feel like one of our strengths is being able to rapidly prototype with the advent of better 3D printing technology. So we’re able to customize these things for specific people and then put them out into the world, so people can take those ideas and expand on them.

Oh, nice.

And also one important thing to point out too, is while doing this customization, it is really cost effective as well, because a lot of these things while not being totally customized to the actual person, can cost hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases. So this can be really done at a really cost effective price as well.

Yeah, what we do, I mean, when we actually do the manufacturing of plastic things, that can be 3D printed, the cost is extremely low. I mean, the phone holder I made, maybe we can get y’all some pictures of it to see it, but it costs under a dollar to make. The ramp that Ashley had mentioned, is probably under $80-ish.

Wow.

Yeah, so a ramp typically… And the reason we made that one in particular, was because someone had say, roughly a six-inch threshold. And there aren’t really a whole lot of options for that, except a heavy metal ramp that is pretty expensive or something completely custom that would also be expensive. So we were able to design one in 3D, print it for under $80.

Wow.

Or in the case of the phone holder under a dollar. But lots of examples like that. A lot of the writing devices are all under a dollar to make when it comes to actual material costs.

That’s so wild and such a huge saving and like you both mentioned, can be customized actually to the individual and to the need to what you’re actually trying to accomplish. Which is something that you both brought up, good points, maybe isn’t readily available. And if it is, it’s not accessible because of cost. Philip, you brought up something that I wanted to elaborate on there. You said, you can make these custom things for individuals, but then you could put the information and the plans out there in the world. What did you mean by that?

Well, basically, that we will offer anything that we design available for free for people to download and print themselves, or take the files and maybe redesign it and improve upon it. At the moment, one of the things we are working on, is building a catalog and putting it online, so that it is more readily accessible to anyone. We already put some things online, but the main barrier to that, at least at the moment for us, is just getting the infrastructure and the website in place. But we do put some of our designs on say, Maker World, that’s Bambu Labs, the 3D printing company’s website. We put as much as we can on Makers Making Change as well. I don’t know if you are familiar with them? So yeah, we want to make our designs accessible and available to anyone.

And one other product that we also make that I forgot to mention, was the toddler mobility trainers. So they make these toddler mobility trainers that are customized to toddlers under the age of five, that allows them to push themselves and to get independence and mobility, at an age that most insurance companies don’t pay for a wheelchair yet. I believe Medicaid won’t pay for an actual wheelchair until you’re at the age of five. So this allows them to get mobility alongside their peers.

Nice. And I love how I see the trend with the things that are made there at MakeGood of just finding a need and being able to assist. I was unaware that Medicaid or other insurance wouldn’t pay for a wheelchair until the age of five. So I love that there’s an option out there to be able to actually, like you said, be able to learn to ambulate, to get around at the same time that their peers are. I think that just amazingly helps in trying to try to figure that out at five years old when you’re probably trying to enter school and do everything else at the same time, seems a little silly.

Yeah, and I guess one of the reasonings behind that, even though it obviously, doesn’t make sense, the reasoning is because the kids grow too fast. But that’s also a time when they really need the development to be able to move a bit instead of being stuck in one place. And so the toddler mobility trainers are another example of open source design. That’s something that we didn’t design ourselves. It was designed by an organization called TOM Global. It was designed with being able to build it in different parts of the world with materials that aren’t very difficult to find. I don’t remember the exact cost of the TMTs that we built, but I think it stays somewhere under 80 to $100.

Nice.

But all the materials are things you can get at Home Depot or Lowe’s. Maybe not a hardware store, but there are parts and materials that aren’t unusual. They’re easy to find. So we didn’t design that, but we have improved upon it.

Very cool. And I love how, and Philip even brought it up there, that you maybe didn’t invent that idea, but is still able to improve on it. And I really like that you’re taking the things that you do make and putting them out there in the world, so that other people can either improve on them, of course, if needed or change them a little bit to make them specifically for the individual that they might be working with or themselves as they need. I’ve always felt like in assistive technology that there are things that help someone with and then just insert need here. So with a visual impairment or with a hearing impairment. And maybe not always as customizable as it could be for that specific person’s wants, needs and actually the effect of their disability. I like that you’re taking that stuff all into consideration. And then also just making it available for others to be able to go out and change it as well.

Yeah, the toddler mobility trainers are such a great example, because I mean, other organizations have taken some things, and maybe Ashley remembers exactly who, but I think the university in Wisconsin recently did an event, where they assembled a bunch of TMTs. And so they used the example of how we did it, because done it with Tulane students and we’ve done it with a number of different organizations, where you can have a certain number of requests and then we try and get volunteers to help with the labor of assembling them.

Very cool. This question’s for both of you, because I feel like we’ve already answered some, but we talked about the toddler mobility trainers, we talked about some of the other really cool stuff. Just give me an example of some of the other kinds of things that you’ve been able to make, maybe one that surprised you or one that you just thought was really cool or maybe one that someone requested, that you may have never thought of without that request coming through.

So I’ll let Philip take this one first, since he does more of the design.

Well, let’s see, I was pulling up our Instagram, so I can through and see if…

If it jogs the memory on any that might stick out?

Yeah, I think… Go ahead, Ashley.

Oh, I was just going to say some of the things that stick out for me, is when you guys made the guitar pick holder for the person that needed assistance playing the guitar. And I’m trying to think of the other musical instruments. So those types of devices stick out to me, because they’re always something that I wouldn’t have thought about myself. But something that makes the world just open up to someone else.

Well, yeah, so Ashley mentioned the guitar pick holder, we’ve also done drumsticks.

Oh.

I’ve done, I don’t know if any listeners are familiar, but I’ve made an Osmo, a DJI Osmo holder. It’s a handheld gimbal. You’ll see people holding them. It holds your phone, so it stabilizes it to take video and pictures. But you hold one of those in your hand like a stick and you need to be able to grip it. And I’m quadriplegic, so I don’t have really any finger function, so I can’t squeeze something to grip it. So we made a way for me to hold one of those.

And then in making that, one of the methods we used to attach it to my wrist was a watch band. And combining that with 3D printing the device, the watch band, it’s a nylon band that you can buy. They’re called NATO bands, and it just happens to be a convenient way to quickly strap something to your arm. So that was an example of some unusual things. And it’s also an example of how we take a little bit of one idea and then apply it to others, like say the watch strap, because that was taken from that idea and then we applied it to the drumstick holder and guitar pick holder.

I love that, because so many times the folks I work with are trying to get an experience. It seems like, not everyone, but a lot of folks have the, “I’d love to be able to do this. Or maybe be able to do this the same way I used to.” Or just, “My peers can do this, but there’s just nothing out there that can assist with this need,, that can overcome this little part.” You mentioned holding the gimbal, being able to grip and keep it up. It’s not that anything else within that was really the barrier, it was that one piece, so just being able to overcome that. But before then, I mean, sure, I’m sure there some things that may have been able to attach it in some manner, that may or may not have been at all helpful. So being able to customize something that’s going to be able to do it can just make one heck of a change.

Right. And I think a lot of the issue is simply that no one has really thought about the problem. Or if they have, it’s been someone that hasn’t been able to put it out into the world somehow. So yeah, that’s why we think it’s so valuable. It’s really just taking the time to think about a problem and come up with a potential solution. While it may not be great at first, you need to take a stab at something to see what works and what doesn’t. And then from there, you can keep revising it and improving it until you have something that’s working. And then once you have something that works for some people, you can start to take that and see what may… It may not work perfectly for other people, but you may start to see where you can tweak things to make them work a bit better. So it’s a constant iterative process.

And these things open up so many doors for people with disabilities. While doing this work, I constantly think about the things that opened up for people that are young. Because I remember when I was younger not being able to play video games like my peers, because I only had the use of one hand. I had the use of the other one, but it’s not that good when it comes to mobility. And so that would’ve opened up so many social aspects for me when I was younger. And it’s just the little things that we don’t think about sometimes.

I got a little bit of time left, so I’ve got just a few more questions I want to make sure that I get to. One is, you guys do some great stuff, some amazing things. What’s the vision for the future? Or what’s next for MakeGood?

I think that would be a question for Noam, because I think he has the ultimate vision. But at least in the near term, we are moving into a new design lab at University of New Orleans and expanding our capabilities with what we’re able to do manufacturing wise.

Awesome, awesome.

And then maybe Ashley could add to that?

And so going off of what Philip said, I believe Philip is right, that is definitely a Noam question. But I know our at new space, we envision being a community hub for those around us in a space where the community can learn about 3D printing. But also a space where people with disabilities and their peers can hang out and just enjoy one another.

Nice.

But also on a broader level, we do want to become the people that others come to for different projects that they may not know how to do themselves. Or they may have an issue or a problem that they want to solve, so they want to see what they can do to make it better. So you do want to become that platform.

Yeah, even… Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, Ashley. You can finish.

Oh, no [inaudible 00:23:23] Philip. No, I was just going to say, right now we’ve been looking into more grant funding for sustainability. And so we just want to broaden what we’re doing now. And hopefully, that’ll become all of our full time jobs.

Well, yeah, and like Ashley said, we do want to make ourselves a hub, and more people come when they have a problem that they would like to solve. Because even if we don’t have the immediate capability to do something, we do want to be able to facilitate and bring in other people and other partners that can solve a problem that we may not be able to address.

Very, very cool. For listeners who want to find out more, what is a good way for them to do that?

Right now it’s our Instagram, it’s Makegoodnola. I guess, Ashley, you could talk about the website.

Yeah. So along with our Instagram, we also have a website, it is makegood.design. And at the website you can see some of our hot products and some of our community reviews. Right now, it’s going through reconstruction, so it’s going to be revamped. We also have a TikTok and a Facebook as well. So we’re out there on all social media platforms. But I do know our Instagram has a lot of what we do. And Noam and Philip do a phenomenal job of taking photos and videos of all the events they do and all the products that they produce.

Awesome. We will put links for those down in the show notes, so that folks can easily find them. Well, Philip, Ashley, thank you so much for coming on today for telling us about MakeGood and just all the great things that you do there. It’s such a huge need and just great that you’re making the one device the one individual needs and then putting it out there, so that device could be used by so many more folks in their own special way and for the individuals that actually need it. So thank you both so much for coming on the show, for telling us all about it and for everything that you do.

Thank you.

Thanks a lot for having us.

Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on Assistive Technology Update? If so, call our listener line at (317) 721-7124. Send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org or shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAproject. Our captions and transcripts for the show are sponsored by the Indiana Telephone Relay Access Corporation or INTRAC. You can find out more about INTRAC at relayindiana.com. A special thanks to Nicole Prieto for scheduling our amazing guests and making a mess of my schedule. Today’s show is produced, edited, hosted, and fraught over by yours truly. The opinions expressed by our guests are their own and may or may not reflect those of the INDATA Project, Easterseals Crossroads, our supporting partners or this host. This was your Assistive Technology Update. And I’m Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. We look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-Bye.