The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Student creates, donates prosthetic hands
TORRINGTON » Torrington High School Senior Ali DuBois is getting a jumpstart on her engineering degree – and literally lending a hand to a global nonprofit.
In an independent study class with THS teacher Scott Samsel, Dubois is producing and donating prosthetic hands to the Prosthetic Kids Hand Challenge, a student and teacher volunteer organization working with the non-profit group Enabling the Future.
The particular design, called the Raptor, is wrist driven and assists those who are missing fingers and thumb.
DuBois will be helped by a few student volunteers that she will enlist and train to complete this task over the next month.
DuBois requested the independent study class with Samsel, which is giving her experience with various computer numerically controlled additive and subtractive machining systems. She felt that this project an excellent tie into her decision to pursue engineering at Boston University, where she has been accepted to attend in the fall.
Each hand requires over 25 hours of printing time on a MakerBot Replicator 3D printer, a machine that is a part of the Career and Technical Education departments’ Manufacturing program.
When the printing is complete, the hands’ 31 individual parts must be assembled and various hardware pieces attached. The total cost of the materials to produce and assemble each hand is about $35 and is being covered by donations and grant monies.
An equivalent, professionally made partial hand prosthesis would cost between $6,000 and $10,000.
Samsel is hopeful that the work that Ali is performing will encourage other students to take the various hands-on classes that high school has offered, beginning with the basics of woodworking. These classes provide learning opportunities to students of all abilities and future interests.
Last year, Samsel had another independent study student who designed, built and programmed several generations of robots using the schools’ CNC router, laser machining and 3D printer. That student will be entering his second year of post-secondary study in the fields of robotics and mechanical engineering this fall.