Wichita State team creates robotic 3D-printed hand for local boy

Chase Rawlings, a 3rd grader at Ewalt Elementary in Augusta, was born without a fully developed left hand. When his mother heard about the technology and talent available at Wichita State in the area of 3D printing, she reached out.

Engineering major Chelsea Sewell and Brian Brown, director of the Robotics and Automation Lab at WSU, got together to think about what they could do for Chase. 

The result: A 3D-printed robotic hand created right here at Wichita State. The first hand will be used as a prototype for Sewell to improve on in the future. In the meantime, she says, Chase gets to be "the cool one in the classroom."


The mission of Wichita State University is to be an essential educational, cultural and economic driver for Kansas and the greater public good. Wichita State is a doctoral research university enrolling nearly 15,000 students and offering 59 undergraduate degree programs in more than 150 areas of study in seven undergraduate colleges. The Graduate School offers 45 master's and 12 doctoral degrees that offer study in more than 100 areas. Wichita State's Innovation Campus is an interconnected community of partnership buildings, laboratories and mixed-use areas where students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and businesses have access to the university's vast resources and technology. For more information, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wichitastate and Facebook at www.facebook.com/wichita.state.