Engineering student Eric Ronning demonstrates his winning invention, the Manu Print. Photograph courtesy of the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering/Mark Riechers.
A prosthetic hand that could be inexpensively created on a 3D printer won the top prize and $10,000 in the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) Schoofs Prize for Creativity, one of a pair of competitions that make up Innovation Days. Held February 9 and 10, the event rewards UW-Madison students for creative and marketable ideas.
Dubbed “Manu Print,” the prosthesis is designed to allow users to close and open each finger individually by applying only one tensile force. The hand is purely mechanical and has no electronic parts. Inventor Eric Ronning, a mechanical engineering sophomore, could make the hand’s design available on open-source 3D printing sites, such as Thingiverse, where it could be replicated for about $20.
As a student in a sophomore-level statics course, Ronning was inspired by engineering physics professor Mike Plesha, PhD, who encouraged his students to think outside the classroom for applications for their ideas.
Ronning first came up with the idea of a mechanism that allows each finger to move with a separate, differential force. Then it was just a matter of finding a good application for the idea. He eventually decided on prosthetic hands, particularly for people who couldn’t afford what was already on the market. He said the idea of printing the hand, rather than manufacturing it, was fueled in part by an engineering class he took in high school, where he learned 3D modeling and computer-assisted design.
In addition to the top Schoofs Prize, Ronning also won second place and $1,250 in the Tong Prototype Competition, which rewards students for building their ideas.
