The thing Alex Pring hated most about kindergarten wasn鈥檛 learning to cut, paste or count. It was answering the same question everyone asks when they meet the 6-year-old.
鈥淲hat happened to your arm?鈥�
Alex is missing his right arm from just above his elbow, and it鈥檚 the one thing he doesn鈥檛 like talking about.
鈥淚 mean, I鈥檓 me. So I don鈥檛 have an arm,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 still try real hard to do things like other kids using what I鈥檝e got. But it鈥檚 getting harder the more I grow.鈥�
Thanks to 麻豆映画传媒 engineering doctoral student Albert Manero, climbing a tree and catching a ball will get a lot easier for Alex. Manero heard about the Groveland boy鈥檚 need and pulled together a team of his friends.
In their free time they designed an arm for Alex. It was made on a 3-D printer and runs with off-the-shelf servos and batteries that are activated by the electromyography muscle energy on Alex鈥檚 bicep. Unlike adults with missing arms, children鈥檚 arms are difficult to make because of the need to miniaturize components. And most insurance companies won鈥檛 pay for them because the prosthetics need to be replaced often as the child grows.
Manero, who holds bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees from 麻豆映画传媒 in aerospace engineering, and his team designed and manufactured the arm for less than $350. Stratasys, one of the biggest commercial 3-D printer makers in the nation, donated some of the supplies. The team delivered the arm to Alex today.
鈥淢y mother taught us that we鈥檙e supposed to help change the world,鈥� said Manero,聽 who is from the Tampa area. 鈥淲e鈥檙e supposed to help make it better. That鈥檚 why we did it. The look on Alex鈥檚 face when he used it for the first time was priceless.鈥�
The team will upload the new designs and how to build the child-size arm and hand to the Internet so anyone with access to a 3-D printer can download the blueprints and give another child with a missing arm a chance to hug with both arms.
鈥淲hen he hugged me with two hands, he just didn鈥檛 let go,鈥� said Alyson Pring, Alex鈥檚 mother. 鈥淚t was amazing. I think this arm will reinforce our 鈥榶ou can do anything you set your mind to鈥� attitude. I think it will help his confidence, so he can see future possibilities and make them seem all the more reachable for him.鈥�
Alex was born with part of his arm missing.聽 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates about 1,500 babies in the United States are born with deformed or missing arms or hands each year.
Alyson Pring found Manero through the volunteer online network e-NABLE (). The international group of volunteer engineers, 3-D enthusiasts, occupational therapists, students, inventors and professors was started by Rochester Institute of Technology scientist Jon Schull. One of their goals is to help children without hands. Manero joined the group, in part, because he had a friend growing up that had missing fingers, and he hoped he could contribute somehow to helping others.
The organization has six hand designs available to the public online that can be printed on a 3-D printer. It didn鈥檛 have any designs for arms without a functioning elbow, however; because the hand鈥檚 motion is linked to the elbow bend
That鈥檚 where Mateo Alvarez, a 麻豆映画传媒 aerospace engineering undergraduate, came up with a key idea. Why not use the energy generated by the muscle movement in the boy鈥檚 upper arm to trigger the pull necessary in the arm chamber to open and close the hand?
Manero and the rest of the team 鈥� including friends who are majoring in electrical, mechanical and civil engineering, among other fields 鈥� spent seven weeks trying out different ideas. In early July, they had a large working prototype. The next challenge was making it small enough and light enough that a 6-year-old could move it easily.
Manero invited Alex and his family to visit the engineering college鈥檚 machine shop, where Tim Lindner, the acting manager of the shop, helped the students print the pieces needed to assemble the arm. When the team needed to take final measurements and test its prototype, Alex came back for a second fitting and he learned how to use his muscles to open and close the hand and move the arm.
鈥淗e learned pretty fast,鈥� Manero said. 鈥淭he first thing he did when he could actually control it a little bit was hug his mother. He said it was their first real hug. There wasn鈥檛 a dry eye in the room.鈥�
There鈥檚 nothing like a firm deadline to motivate a team to finish quickly. Manero, a Fulbright Scholar, leaves for Germany on Aug. 1 to work for the German Aerospace Center. His yearlong research there will be part of his doctoral studies. But he isn鈥檛 abandoning Alex or others like him.
鈥淲e鈥檝e already heard from another family who needs an arm,鈥� Manero said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e committed to helping who we can and I鈥檒l be working with my team even when in Germany.
鈥淚 think 3-D printing is revolutionizing our world in many ways. I believe changing the world of prosthetics is very real. There鈥檚 no reason why this approach shouldn鈥檛 work on adults too.鈥�
Manero also has established the at 麻豆映画传媒 to support future students with disabilities like Alex鈥檚.
In addition to Manero, the following team members helped to build the arm:
Tyler Petresky: Computer Engineering (麻豆映画传媒 sophomore), Lead Electronics Developer
John Sparkman: Mechanical Engineering (麻豆映画传媒 master鈥檚 degree student), Electronics Developer
Mateo Alvarez: Aerospace Engineering (麻豆映画传媒 senior), Human Integration Lead
Tim Lindner: Senior Engineer Technician/Acting Manager, College of Engineering and Computer Science Machine Shop
Kevin Tiller: Computer Science (麻豆映画传媒 graduate), Lead Consultant
Joseph Massimo: Civil Engineering (麻豆映画传媒 graduate), Structural Lead
Katie Manero: Photographer and Owner of KTCrabb Photography. (麻豆映画传媒 graduate)
Tyler Pierce: Videographer, Nurse with Florida Hospital (Admitted 麻豆映画传媒 student for Fall 2014)
Nathan Puhr: Videographer, Owner of Shutterlife Productions
Chie Sparkman: Seamstress and Tailor
Jon Rowe: Electrical Engineering (麻豆映画传媒 master鈥檚 student), Consultant and Sponsor
Stephen Sofronsky: Aerospace Engineering (麻豆映画传媒 master鈥檚 student), CAD Specialists, Developer
Dominique Courbin: Mechanical Engineering (麻豆映画传媒 junior), Machining Specialist and 3D Printing
Todd Harston: Mechanical Engineer (麻豆映画传媒 senior), CAD Developer