Prosthetic Hand Project

Imagine creating a fully functional prosthetic hand.

Students in Brewster Central School District’s P-tech or Brewster Opportunities Program are doing just that using 3D modeling and printing techniques in their engineering classes.

The ninth graders are the first class to go through the program, which is the first of its kind in Brewster Central School District. Funded by a $2.5 million State Education Department grant,  the program allows eligible students to earn both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree at Westchester Community College. Students may study cybersecurity, electrical technology, or mechanical technology, leading to an Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree at no cost to the student.

“The prosthetic hand assignment is a great project for these students because it gets them immediately involved in creating and addresses a real-world need for accessible and customizable prosthetic solutions,” said teacher Michael Trainor. 

“First we had to think about design,” explained Jayden Flores, “we ran up against measurement issues with the fingers and thumb.”

One student had his lightbulb moment at home, “I was eating dinner, holding a fork staring at my hand,” said Josue Ramirez, “after that I researched everything about hands online.”

After the design stage, students learned about Tinkercad, a modeling program for 3D designs, and got to work.

“While working on TInkercad we could move the 3D shapes in the form of fingers, a thumb, and a palm. It was easy to navigate the program. We arranged our fingers upright and our thumb to the side. Then we had to put in holes for the string that we thread through–when you pull the string, the fingers move just like real fingers,” explained Hera Hernandez.

“We used the program to carve out dents for joints,” said Viviana Sanchez, “we subtracted space using the 3D shapes.”

The 3D printing and assembly were the most exciting part of the assignment for many. Using one of the two printers in the p-tech classroom students got to print their designs and assemble the printed components making sure that all parts fit together correctly and that moving parts function as intended. They even made refinements based on test results to improve the hand performance. The final product: a working prosthetic hand.

“I like this class because we are working together, creating real-world things and we are busy all the time,” said Natalie Nunez.