inMotion Magazine

November | December 2018 40 Riley and the Makers by David Goddard Technology A recently formed club at the University of Tennessee’s Tickle College of Engineering is providing students an outlet to bring their ideas to life via a mix of traditional and cutting-edge manufacturing methods. The Makers Club began during the Fall 2017 semester with the goal of bringing together students and faculty interested in the makers movement, a group united by the idea of people learning and maintaining practical skills that were once common but are now in danger of being lost and to developing skills in cutting-edge techniques such as 3D printing. The Makers Club focus on turning ideas into reality is attracting students from various majors across campus. “It started because of an idea we had in class,” says Chase Cumbelich, a junior from Ooltewah, Tennessee, majoring in electrical engineering, who helped found the club. “We kept hitting a wall while we were trying to develop something, and we realized our lack of contact and knowledge with other majors was really hampering us. “We reached out across the college and got about 30 people interested, and the club just kind of snowballed from there.” Now that club is changing the life of a classmate. One of the first things the group was able to produce was a 3D-printed hand, developed with other engineering students. At a group meeting, the question was raised whether anyone knew of someone who might need such a hand. Riley Toll, a freshman from Memphis in biomedical engineering, stood up and said, “Yeah . . . me.” “I’d heard about the group and had a lot of interest,” says Toll. “Things like this are one of the reasons I was interested in engineering to begin with – to be able to help people and give back. Hopefully this brings some awareness to what can be accomplished through engineering.” Chad Duty, associate professor of mechanical, aerospace, and biomedical engineering, introduced the idea of 3D-printed prosthetics to the club, stemming from an ongoing effort of a group called the Enable Community Foundation. Enable connects patients across the world who need prosthetic appendages with groups like the Makers Club that have access to 3D printers. The two parties work together to get the prosthetic limb fitted to the specific size and needs of the patient, and it is delivered free of charge. Duty points out that groups like Enable that bring people together for a common cause underscore the role of having a network of makers and the promise that such innovators hold. “There are a lot of good things that can be accomplished when groups of people work together,” Duty says. “The sky is the limit.” Things like this are one of the reasons I was interested in engineering to begin with – to be able to help people and give back. Watch a short video documenting the progress of constructing Riley’s prosthesis at tiny.utk.edu/Riley.