Lend a Helping Hand!

In the middle of the 2015 competition season, Frog Force was approached by a mentor with an interesting proposal: forming a partnership with e-NABLE, a grassroots nonprofit organization that prints and provides 3D prosthetic hands to children worldwide. Armed with an old Cube printer found in an old coach’s basement and a single signup sheet, a duo of students were able to make an alliance with a dozen FRC teams and a maker space to bring the FIRST community together to lend a helping hand by the end of that same competition season.

That was only the beginning of Helping Hands. After the first year of our e-NABLE partnership, a Frog Force alumni, found a summer internship at a neuroscience tech startup using the skills he learned from being on Frog Force. He was able to make a myoelectric prototype of the hand model we used the previous year. One of our mentors saw the results of his work and was inspired to start a multidisciplinary project at the University of Michigan that improved the e-NABLE hands - one of which was the myoelectric one that our alumni worked on.

Over the past three years, our coalition has been able to make over 65 3D printed hands and arms for children worldwide, and spread awareness for e-NABLE at Makerfaire, the Ann Arbor Hands Museum, and many other robot demonstrations.

We are always looking for others to help us lend a helping hand. Contact us if you are interested!




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