LEAGUE CITY, Texas – A few years ago, a League City boy, born without a left hand, got a 3-D printed prosthesis.
Well another boy who saw KHOU 11 News’ original story thought they he could make the device even better.
Keith Harris was 5-years-old when he became the first kid in Texas to get a prosthetic hand made by a 3-D printer. He was born without a right hand.
“That’s my lucky fin,” Keith said like Little Nemo.
Now 7, Keith ever a character, gave us his review on the printed hand.
“It was OK…just OK,” he said.
It wasn’t very good for fine motor skills. That is what got Jared Foltyn thinking.
“I've been interested in robotics my entire life. Ever since even third grade,” he said.
Now in eighth grade, the gifted and talented student decided on this for his school project.
“The first thing is this magnet,” he said. “With magnets you can do a bunch of different things fairly easily.”
So he glued on magnets and Velcro to use with everyday household objects. He even used a blow torch to create tools of sorts.
“These are my switch screw attachments,” he said. “I’m hoping a good one (grade). I'm betting a good one.”
Aside from grades, what was the bottom line?
“How can I make a first-grader’s life better,” he said.
The review?
“Awesome,” Keith said.
So we asked Keith to do a test run using the alligator clips to help him cut a piece of paper or the Velcro for toys like blowing bubbles or a handy little flashlight.
“Pretty sweet. Look at that,” he said. “I can do way more things.”
All this makes Keith's mom, a former grade school teacher way happy, partly because Jared is one of her former students.
“When they come up with ways they can help you or your family that's even more special,” she said.
Jared comes from a family of engineers; his low-tech designs are deliberate.
“Keep it super simple,” he said.
Keith agrees after fussing a bit with the metal spoon he decides to snap the bowl onto the hand.
“This is a simpler way to down the lucky charms,” he said.
Jared has more improvements in mind.
He has made one other aesthetic upgrade so far – a paint job that glows in the dark.
By the way Keith wants to be a football player when he grows up, so Jared is tinkering around with attachments to help him catch a ball.