Students in Steve Brooks engineering and architectural design class at Vestavia High School all contributed to design ideas and created working models using a 3D printer.By Anne Ruisi
Using special software and a 3D printer, a group of Vestavia Hills High School seniors are designing the base model of a device to help a 6-year-old boy who lost three of the fingers on his left hand in a car accident fully enjoy his love of playing baseball again.
To do that, they have been trying to develop a way to make it easier for the injured boy, Waylon Marshall, to manipulate his baseball mitt after catching a ball, said Steve Brooks, who teaches engineering and architectural design at the high school.
A car accident last fall led to the loss of the middle, ring and pinkie fingers, which are needed to open and close a baseball glove. Waylon had adapted to holding the ball in the glove after catching it by using his right hand to close the mitt around the ball, but opening the mitt was problematic without those fingers, Brooks said.
“The ultimate goal is to help him out,” Brooks said. At the same time, the students get a real-life opportunity to use their creativity and knowledge.
Brooks’ class became involved with helping to find a solution for Waylon’s baseball mitt situation through his occupational therapist, Christy Mann, who is married to Bill Mann, principal at the high school’s freshman campus, Brooks said. She told her husband about the boy’s situation and the challenges he faced in getting a prosthetic hand.
A professionally made prosthetic hand would cost about $10,000, and a child such as Waylon would outgrow it in about six months, Brooks said. Bill Mann knew 3D printers were in Brooks’ class at the main high school and thought the high school engineering students could design and print something that would work for the boy.
“We can’t do anything remotely like it (a professionally created prosthetic), but we could do something that can work,” Brooks said.
Waylon and his mother, Dena Marshall, made a couple of trips to the high school during the winter, where a cast of his damaged hand was made. A few weeks later, a 3D scan of his hand was made, which was used to create a computer model, Brooks said. That computer model was used to create working models of possible solutions reflecting the different approaches developed by the students to adapt a baseball glove for the boy’s use.
The Hanger Clinic in Birmingham, which makes prosthetics and orthotics, also came on board to assist with advice. That was arranged through the father of a student in another class who worked there.
Brooks’ students all contributed to design ideas and created working models using a 3D printer. Tests of those models helped the students figure out which aspects of a design worked, which didn’t and which needed to be refined or redesigned.
Practical Experience
Most of them will major in engineering after they graduate May 23. They said their efforts to help Waylon gave them practical experience in a real-life challenge to help a child.
“I think it’s fantastic to be given the opportunity to do this. It’s a great contribution to the community,” said Benjamin Keene, who will study civil engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts in the fall. “This is practical, and you can see a real result.”
Emarie Price, who will study mechanical engineering at Auburn University in the fall, said she was glad she participated in the project.
“We do a lot of cool projects here but none is practical,” Price said. “This is so much more rewarding.”
While the students were unlikely to finish the final version of a device or way to adapt a baseball mitt for Waylon, it’s possible next year’s class will refine it and finish it, Brooks said.
Meanwhile, Waylon is playing baseball. Brooks said. Eventually, future improvements to a mitt will help make participating better, but he is adapting well.
“He made two home runs the other night,” the teacher said.
English (US)