SMILE: Automated Swing Delivers Real-World Impact for Maryland Youth

The SMILE (Safe Motion for Inclusive Leisure and Exercise) Swing project, an automated swing used for sensory therapy in young people with disabilities, sounds like a simple design-and-build.

Engineer. Swing. Bring on the smiles.

Not so fast, says Principal Lecturer Vincent Nguyen ’03, Ph.D. ’11.

A Deceptively Difficult Design

Nguyen and students stand by Avaleigh who is in the swing

On May 18, 2026, the Maryland Engineering team delivered their therapeutic swing to Avaleigh, a 13-year-old Harford County resident. (Photo by Taylor Epps of WMAR-TV)

Nguyen teaches “Entrepreneurial Design Realization for Projects of Positive Impact,” the course that has challenged four semesters’ worth of UMD students to build a successful powered therapy swing. The “cool” but “deceptively difficult” project, sponsored by Volunteers for Medical Engineering (VME), has provided considerable challenges for student teams, he says.

Earlier iterations of the motor-powered swing design didn’t account for change in posture or other movement of the user while swinging, explains mechanical engineering senior Teddy Hersey ’26, who led this year’s SMILE Swing student team. A slouch could lead to inconsistencies, “a big push from the motor that would rock the entire swing—or no push at all,” he says.

Sensing User Movements & Protecting from Elements

In this mature project design, an Inertial Measurement Unit, or sensing system, solves the problem by tracking physical movement and orientation, so the swing is constantly adjusting to the user.

This semester, in addition to refining the systems, the team was tasked with weatherproofing the swing for outdoor use by building plastic casings for the electronic and sensing systems using 3D printing and laser cutting.

Demos at the 2026 Capstone Design Expo

Hersey with the swing at the Capstone Design Expo

“Making the lives of others better and easier is what engineering is all about!” Hersey explains. (Photo by Mike Morgan)

Hersey and his teammates—graduating senior Maxwell Douglas Baba ’26, Alejandro Sanchez Pariachi, and Tiffany Tang, all mechanical engineering students—competed with their project at the 2026 Capstone Design Expo, which featured 143 student projects from across all eight Clark School departments plus Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP). At the May 6 Capstone Design Expo, anyone who wanted to try the SMILE Swing was offered a ride.

Designed for Class; Delivered to Youth in Need

VME receives three to five requests for automated therapy swings per year in Maryland. Sensory swings offer therapeutic benefits through stimulation of sensory and vestibular systems and core muscle development. The SMILE swing provides a robust and reproducible product meant to serve as a universal solution for all future client implementations. Nguyen is looking for additional support to expand the project for more impact.

Hersey’s team delivered their swing to a VME client, 13-year-old Harford County resident, Avaleigh, on May 18. “This was a phenomenal project to be a part of,” Hersey posted on LinkedIn. “Making the lives of others better and easier is what engineering is all about!”

Published May 21, 2026