The Ezra Project; Stockbridge InvenTeam builds adaptive fishing pole to help a boy fish.

The Ezra Project

By Julia Marhofer

Earlier this fall, one of our fellow InvenTeam members was inspired by 3D printed prosthetic hands that we had previously designed. She decided that she wanted to help make a 3D printed fishing pole adaptor to give a 7 year old boy with very little use of one of  his hands, the ability to fish on his own while on fishing trips with his dad. At a young age, Ezra suffered from a stroke, resulting in the loss of the use of his whole right arm. One of the very first questions the team asked themselves was, “ What do we need to change about the current designs out there to make them easier for Ezra to use?” Chelsey Asquith, one of our team members, was family friends with Ezra’s parents. Our goal as a team was to come up with a design that would allow Ezra to hold the fishing pole, cast it, and retrieve the cast all on his own.

                   

Designing a prototype can take numerous tries, but with the right mindset you can always come up with ways to improve your product. For the very first prototype, we used a 3D printer to create a design that would fit on Ezra’s left arm and help with supporting the fishing pole so that he could reel with his right arm. The design was still difficult for Ezra to use so we started brainstorming more ideas.

The first, was to incorporate another 3D printed piece that would hook onto Ezra’s arm and allow him to reel by himself. The second, was to 3D print a piece that hooked onto the reel and attach velcro to both the piece, and a glove that Ezra would wear to help him reel. Both designs had the right idea, but they were both still too hard for Ezra to use. 

For our fourth and final product, we incorporated an adult version of the One-Der-Reel. We 3D printed a brace and arm mounting device which can be reprinted as Ezra needs it. The attachment was printed and then thermoformed to fit his wrist/forearm. The newest device allows for Ezra to hold the rod and reel in one hand.

Throughout this experience our team got to be apart of a project that did not involve marine technology. When most people think about the Stockbridge InvenTeam, robots, technology and underwater exploration come to mind. But, these are just a few aspects of our program, projects like Ezra’s allow us to incorporate the different aspects of 3D printing while also allowing our team to help people in our community.