Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas 

We’ve been off and on in the “business” of prosthetic devices since before we opened Fab Lab ICC in October of 2014. Each time we think there is no more work for us to do in this area, a situation seems to arise for which we think we might be of some help even though none of us at Fab Lab ICC has any kind of medical background. Such is the case now with an opportunity to inform our network about a research study being conducted by our good friend Dr. Jorge Zuniga, formerly at Creighton University, now at University of Nebraska in Omaha. 

This all started in July of 2014 as we frantically prepared for the opening date of Fab Lab ICC on October 1 of that year. At a friend’s house for a birthday party, a relative of the friend heard me talking about opening the Fab Lab. He mentioned that he and some others in their small community on Toronto Lake, north of Independence, had been raising funds to buy a 3D printer so they could make a prosthetic hand for their neighbor and family friend, 13-year old Kara Marr. We had three of the 3D printers on order so I told him he could make her a hand at Fab Lab ICC. He settled on a design called the Cyborg Beast hand we later found out was developed by Dr. Zuniga as an open source, meaning anyone could access the plans at no charge. 

The friend, Wes, with the help of a couple of ICC students, built and assembled the hand during the end week of September amid all the hustle, bustle and mess of the last minute preparations for our opening. Kara has a limb difference called symbrachydactyly. Her left-side hand and wrist are normal, but on the right, she has the wrist and hand but the fingers and thumb are small nubbins. The Beast hand works by mechanically contracting plastic articulated fingers as the wrist is bent forward. When the wrist straightens, elastic strands in the fingers straighten them back up. Kara made an appearance at our grand opening as did the local television station in Joplin. There was media coverage too, followed by an inquiry for a couple of families from Manhattan and Olathe, each with 4-year olds having similar limb differences. 

In February of 2015, we held our first “Hand Up Weekend” during which the two families came to town and the Fab Lab filled with volunteers, family members and the kids as we assembled hands for the two 4-year olds. Reporters from a TV station in Kansas City and one in Topeka came and covered the story as did several newspapers. We think the story was aired in 25 or so of our United States and we received an email from a mother in Venezuela who saw it on ESPN. 

The publicity was great for Fab Lab ICC and we learned a lot from the two experiences. One thing we learned is that 4-year old kids are very young to understand about the plastic “glove” you are trying to get them to put on their hand. 

In the end, the hands were of limited use to these kids. Active kids learn to adapt with what they have and it’s often more trouble than it’s worth to have to put on and wear a plastic device when you can get by pretty well with what you have. Still we think they’ll look back and appreciate the work everyone did toward helping them. 

Since those times, there have been many advances in 3D printed prostheses, including some work with motors and electronics. Dr. Zuniga has been involved in much of the research in his role at the Biomechanics Research department at U of N. We at Fab Lab ICC have not been able to keep up with all this technology since we have a Fab Lab full of other kinds of equipment and members that want to learn how to make things. 

It had been a while since we’d connected with Dr. Zuniga. We first met him by a congratulatory email he sent us after seeing the television story about us making his hand during Hand Up Weekend. It had also been a while since we’d had an inquiry from someone asking for help. All that changed last week. 

We received an email from a family in Eudora, Kansas whose twenty-something year old granddaughter lost her hand and forearm in a car accident a year or so ago and she was expecting a baby in September. The grandmother had retrieved articles saved from our “Hand Up Weekend” and wanted to know if we could help. Upon contacting Dr. Zuniga, we found that he is launching a study about the psychological effects of using 3D printed prostheses and he is actively looking for volunteers to be fitted free of charge. Although we may end up printing some of the needed parts, we won’t be as directly involved this time, but it was great to help make the connection and we will gladly provide any other assistance needed from us. 

Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349 or by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu. Archive columns and podcasts at www.fablabicc.org.