< Back to
Academics
< Back to all News
Rose-Hulman Students Give Clinton Boy Robotic Arm
It took the Rose-Hulman team of senior biomedical
engineering students nine months of work before they could deliver
the robotic arm to young Michael Ammerman. Sara
Telezyn, E.J. Oruche and Clay Britton said it wasn't easy and was
often frustrating, but they saw the project through and they are
now able to donate a fully functioning robotic arm to Michael and
his family.
In addition to the demonstration pictured here, Michael was able
to pick up tiny Goldfish crackers with the pincer-like tip of
his robotic arm.
|
Michael Ammerman tests his new robotic arm.
On either side of him arem the senior Rose-Hulman
students who designed and developed it.
|
|
Biomedical Engineering Seniors Make a Difference
by Providing a Helping Hand to Kindergartener
"It's cool, it goes like zhhh zhhh zhhh,"
kindergartener Michael Ammerman demonstrates with his left arm, his
big, brown eyes twinkling with excitement.
Michael could easily be talking about a toy, but he's not.
Instead, the six year old is imitating the movements and sounds of
the new prosthetic arm which was specially designed for him by
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology senior biomedical engineering
students Sara Telezyn, EJ Oruche and Clay Britton.
Michael was born with a condition known as bilateral radial and
ulnar hypoplasia, leaving him with no forearms and only two tiny
fingers on each hand. The students' project, supervised by
professors Kay C Dee, Glen Livesay and Renee Rogge, involved
creating a prosthetic limb that would work with the child's fully
functional fingers. The resulting device extends Michael's
reach, and allows him greater independence, while being fun and
simple to operate.
"He's very excited," says Michael's mother, Bobbi
Ammerman. "He says, 'Mommy I look like a robot with this new
arm! Can I keep it?'"
That statement brings a smile to Oruche's face. "We wanted
it to be fun for him," he says, explaining that the fun factor was
one reason the joystick was incorporated into the design.
Michael uses the joystick to control the device. Oruche,
Telezyn and Britton traveled to Michael's hometown of Clinton, Ind.
every Wednesday. They began by observing Michael in the
kindergarten class before taking measurements and documenting his
level of mobility. As the development of the prosthetic
device progressed, the team used their time with Michael to make
adjustments to the custom-made device.
"Michael's case is so unique," Telezyn notes, adding that his
condition is so rare that even a specialist they consulted at Riley
Children's Hospital had never heard of it. She adds that the
size constraint was one of the biggest challenges the team faced on
the project.
Oruche added that as the electronics specialist on the team, his
biggest challenge was making the device operate on battery
power. "It was okay until I got the whole thing to work with
a battery," he says, citing trial and error, along with the
professors' advice, as tools he used to overcome the challenge.
"I learned a lot about biomedical design, project management and
manufacturing-skills that will undoubtedly help me as I enter the
industry as a biomedical engineer," Telzyn says. "But I also
learned that the hard work you put into a project can really have
an impact on someone's life."
Both Telezyn and Oruche say they looked forward to their weekly
visits with Michael, and that one of the best parts of the
experience was working with a local student to make a difference in
his young life.
"This is the culmination of what we went to school for," Oruche
comments.
Telezyn adds, "It's really great to see where all your hard work
is going."
MORE:
Details in the
Trib-Star
See more on
the Huffington Post