51��ɫ

By Kelsey Kendall 

Located in the Engineering Systems Building, the Monarch Engineering and Innovation Lab (M-Lab) has just about whatever you need to tackle any project, from woodshop to metalworking equipment to fiber arts and 3D printers. The student-run facility also hosts the M-Lab Makers’ Organization, a club that supports the collective brainpower of students from across 51��ɫ Dominion University who come to create, innovate and collaborate on projects within the space.  

“We really care about encouraging learning, innovation and creativity, all while fostering a community of peers connected by their love to make,” said Jacob Lamkhidda, a junior in graphic design and president of the club. 

The club welcomed 6-year-old Taelor Reynolds and her family to the M-Lab last month, because they had made something for her — a device to help the little girl gain a little more independence.  

Taelor was born with limb differences in both arms due to amniotic band syndrome. She has had several surgeries — one of which rotated a finger to give her a pincher grasp with one of her hands. Like any other kid, Taelor loves to play and be imaginative. She pretends to be a mermaid at the beach, sings and enjoys making art. However, her hands can often make doing some of what she wants to do more difficult. She cannot climb with her twin sister, Maia, on the playground or hold a pencil very well to draw.  

She, her mother, other family members and school counselor came to the lab to try the first prototype of a 3D printed device to help her use the bathroom by herself. Though some tweaks need to be made, it was the first tool the M-Lab Makers’ Organization was able to send home with Taelor.  

Soon, she could also get a 3D printed prosthetic hand capable of letting her participate more in gym class, climb a little easier and do more of what first graders like to do. That one is taking a bit more time to refine, but the M-Lab makers have been hard at work making it into something that will work for Taelor.  

“She wants to be able to do things by herself,” Traci Reynolds, Taelor’s mother, said. “She’s always been a very independent one.”  

It was largely by chance that the club connected with the Reynolds family. Taelor’s counselor, Kimberly Logsdon, from New Castle Elementary School in Virginia Beach, saw an M-Lab presentation during an open house with her son, who plans on attending 51��ɫ in the fall. During a tour of the M-Lab, she saw a 3D printed prosthetic hand and thought something similar could be done for Taelor. A lab employee was able to connect Logsdon with the M-Lab Makers’ Organization to see what those students could try to make.  

“For her to be able to kind of go and do her own thing and her own work independently, I think, would be amazing,” Logsdon said, describing Taelor as a bright, eager student always at the front of the classroom. “It would be a huge confidence boost.”  

Lamkhidda said it all worked out because the M-Lab Makers’ Organization had already put out a call on social media, seeking anyone interested in some sort of device to help them with a disability. Called the Semesterly Community Service Challenge, Lamkhidda said the group realized that their materials and resources — which are not limited to 3D printing — could have real-world uses and decided to work together every semester on a project to help people like Taelor. The projects aim to provide people with devices that can help them through everyday tasks made difficult by limb differences.  

Reynolds said some instructors at Taelor’s school have suggested she try to use different kinds of assistive technology. However, she is worried adding more to her routine could further alienate her daughter from her peers. Taelor generally feels comfortable around her classmates and other familiar people but can get shy around new people, worried “they’re not going to like the look of her hands.”  

“They say, ‘Why do your hands look like that?  Why do your hands look like that?’ and I get super frustrated, and I say, ‘It’s a long story, but I don’t want to tell you,’” Taelor said.  

Splitting up into teams, the club has been working on various prototypes of devices that could possibly help Taelor do the things she wants to do. Lamkhidda’s team is working on a prosthetic hand that can grasp objects by using cords running through the fingers that tighten and relax based on the wrist position.  

Drew Cox, a junior in mechanical and aerospace engineering, was inspired by the back of a remote control and is working on a device with a sliding lock mechanism to attach a variety of tools for different needs. The possibilities are limitless, including a hook that would work with Taelor’s pinching grasp to grab things to a device that holds a pen or pencil so she can write.  

Cox noted Taelor’s resilience, saying she is not helpless and “she just needs an aid for what she has.”  

Reynolds said she and her family are grateful to the M-Lab Makers’ Organization for choosing to help her daughter.  

“There’s such a passion in what they’re doing,” she said. “You can see that. I think that it brings them happiness.”