Freetech Plastics, Fremont, California, has awarded first place in its Student Thermoformed Part Competition to Jerrold Ancheta of San Jose State University, California, for his design of a prosthetic arm. Ancheta took home a $2,500 scholarship for his Imprint Transradial Prosthesis, designed for use by children with transradial amputations in rural Colombia.
The scholarship competition for industrial design students is judged on originality of design and creative use of the thermoforming process. Freetech displayed the top six submissions at the August 13-16 Industrial Designers Society of America International Conference in Austin, Texas, where they were voted on by the society’s members. The competition, which drew about 30 students from three schools, is intended to expand the exposure of the thermoforming process and the parts it can produce, according to a report in Plastics News.