The e-Nable Phoenix prosthetic hand is a 3D printable gripper hand designed as a cheap, easily produced prosthetic for areas of the world where assistive devices are hard to obtain. The idea is to use consumer 3D printers, cheap PLA, and (comparatively) cheap rigging materials to generate a customizable hand, possibly even in the field. 

That sounded like a pretty good mission, so Finn D thought he'd give it a try as part of his 20 Time project. We first learned about 3D printing using PET-G, a tougher and more durable material than the usual PLA but one with a few idiosyncrasies on the print bed. Next, we printed all the parts. Although each individual part was mostly easy enough, there were quite a few of them and it was difficult to keep track. At one point, part of the hand cuff needed to be melted into place on a school hotbed. Finally, Finn rigged the hand with string and plastic gripper ends to produce a working hand. 

Click on the videos below to see an example of the hand in action. Finn has the use of both hands, so we are simulating the wrist-stump action, but you get the idea. We did not have an actual user in mind for the this project, so everything was printed at 100% scale. A good next step would be to find a user, and print a custom-measured and custom-scaled version. 

 

The legendary CHAOSMaker "Mysterious Building Challenges" - show up, be given a mostly random set of materials and a problem, and then work in teams under strict time pressures to come up with a solution. It's the perfect way to teach about prototyping, resource management, planning, working in teams...and how to handle pressure in a fun environment. 

The 6th Mysterious Building Challenge started in Mr. Boyd's room on a Wednesday lunch. I had been spreading a few confusing rumors to throw off student detectives trying to figure out the plan, so participants were a little nervous: "Why do we need headlamps?" "Why are you wearing kneepads & a helmet?" "Were we all supposed to bring spatulas?". 

MBC #6: Build the longest, continuous, one-way, fully enclosed, lighted blanket tunnel possible using the entire CHAOS Room and only the provided materials. Oh, and at some point there had to be a "Disco Palace" big enough to stand up and dance in. 

One other big change from previous challenges: all 14 students had to work together as one big team (instead of competing against each other). They had until Friday at noon (3 lunches) to complete their task and show it off to the entire school (gulp). 

Day 1

And away we went. Students started with a traditional planning session and mapped out a route. But it quickly became clear that the plan and the available materials wouldn't match up, so they switched to an area-based system. 

Day 2

There was some major progress, as students came in at both recess & lunch, and a number got permission to skip their regular classes to keep building. They discovered the technique of using string supported by chairs, and the room quickly became a spiderweb. Available chairs became precious. No matter, students used tables, blankets, tablecloths, curtains, scrap fabric, tarps, duct tape, clothes pins, to rig their tunnel.

It became hard to move around the room, so students would pop up out of the blankets and yell "duct tape, need some duct tape over here". Supplies would be tossed, pass from person to person, or delivered by the mouse-team that would scurry through the tunnels.

At the end of the day we had a pretty reasonable tunnel system, and so we brought out the lasers, sound system and fog machine to make the Disco Palace even cooler. Oh, and the legend of the toe-eating Spatula Rat was born. 

 

Day 3

By recess the tunnels were structurally finished, although repair and improvement teams kept crawling through the system trying to improve and fix problem areas. We were down to our last few clothespins and roll of duct tape, so resources were scarce. The Spatula Rat station had gained a 3D printed foot-bone with a toe missing.

I passed around the EL wire and turned off the lights, and soon we had a foggy, crazy, crawly tunnel experience. We never did measure the tunnel length, although the system took up the entire room and could easily have more than 20 people moving in it at the same time without congestion. We rigged up an access control system using glowsticks to count who was in the fort. There were enough nooks and crannies that students would enter the one-way tunnel and then not come out for quite a while. 

The build team was proud of their work, so we cycled through all 5 Grade 8 classes, a number of Grade 7 classes, some Grade 5 classes, random siblings, and a number of teachers. All came out with big smiles on their faces. 

 

The best way to experience it all is through video edited by Colin F. Click to play it! 

 

 

 

 

We have done a number of fun projects over the last couple of years, but I was particularly proud of how students handled this one. They solved difficult physical challenges, dealt with resource management, repair, and redesign - all while working together.  And then, once their project was "finished" they shared it with others, managing access control, safety,  student fears, and various other problems. It was true leadership and ownership in action! 

 

 

Another challenge from Ken Symington's "Design Thinking and Media Communications" class : carry as many ping-pong balls across the room as possible without dropping them or getting stuck. Oh, and use a robot. Once each Sphereo was successful, the students joined their ping-pong bot carriers to create the ultimate three-bot ball carrying machine. 

Click for some vertical video!