'Amazing' Brookdale students create low-cost prosthetic hand with 3D printer

Early in the spring semester, Brookdale Community College professor Lisa Hailey introduced her engineering students to a 3D printer. She also offered to help anyone who had a special project in mind.

Two students took her up on it. After the semester ended, Anjeli Santillan and Mason Brown used the printer to create a prosthetic hand. Even though they’d just graduated and were on their way to pursue bachelor's degrees at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the duo from Neptune saw an opportunity to contribute to e-NABLE — a worldwide humanitarian initiative that uses 3D printers to make free and low-cost prosthetic upper limb devices for children and adults in need.

“We could have 3D-printed something for fun, but it’s an amazing organization,” Brown said. “You’re helping people out who can’t afford to buy thousands of dollars’ worth of prosthetics.”

Putting in six-hour days over a period of several weeks, Santillan and Brown last month produced a plastic left hand that can clench and grip as needed. The first item it picked up was a ratchet.

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“They’re amazing,” Hailey said. “They came to me wanting to do this outside of class. This was not an assignment.”

There were bumps in the road.

"Sometimes a part would come out a little lopsided or broken," Santillan said.

“We were working on the palm, which is one of the larger builds, and that took five hours,” Brown said. “In the last two minutes, the 3D printer started going crazy and the final layers came out extremely thin. So we had to restart the entire palm.”

This particular hand won’t be someone’s prosthetic. It will serve as the pair’s application to become certified designers for e-NABLE. Santillan and Brown, who have been dating since their days at Neptune High School, are in the process of applying right now.

“It’s fulfilling,” Brown said. “This is something you don’t think about, but it’s so important for many people.”

Added Santillan: “To be able to apply engineering skills to something that could impact someone’s life, enable to them to do things we consider regular but they haven’t been able to, it’s something that I really appreciate about engineering. I really am thankful for the opportunity to do this.”

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Santillan, who received Brookdale’s STEM Outstanding Student Award this past spring, will major in biomedical engineering at NJIT. Making a prosthetic hand, she said, is “a project that I've aspired to do since high school.”

At NJIT, she and Brown (who is majoring in chemical engineering) will have access to a Makerspace — a campus workshop where they can kick their production of prosthetics into high gear.

“Mason's and my goal is to send functional hands to children for free," Santillan said. “We are also looking forward to joining the Prosthetics Club, where we will design and assemble prosthetics for animals."

Both students praised Hailey for her guidance and inspiration.

“She’s been invaluable in this whole process — not even just with the hand, but in giving life and career advice,” Brown said. “She took me and Angeli under her wing. Once I’m 50 and I look back, she’ll probably be one of the most important people in my life.”

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Hailey said this is the second student-produced prosthetic hand she’s supervised, but the first one that’s being used for a good cause. She doesn’t think it will be the last.

"I am hoping Anjeli's and Mason's work will inspire other students at Brookdale," she said.

A Brookdale grad and former engineer, Hailey took special pride in this project.

“Hopefully there will be somebody out there looking at Brookdale and thinking about engineering and they’ll say, ‘Wow, we can do this there?’” she said. “Yes, you can.”

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Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Brookdale students use 3D printer to create low-cost prosthetic hand