The Union University department of engineering has hosted several monthly 3D printing workshop camps for 4th-12th graders in which attendees learn how to create toys, costumes and even prosthetic body parts through 3D printing.
Roughly two and a half years ago, the idea to organize an engineering summer camp came about through a Union student’s recommendation. Starting with roughly 20 students who attended the first camp, requests for more opportunities began to come in from other students.
“Afterwards there was just a lot of—‘Hey, can we do something during the semester?’ ‘Hey, do you have something where my kid can come during the school year and do these sorts of things?’—and so that’s when we started to organize these two-Fridays-a-month meetings,” Georg Pingen, professor of engineering, said.
Pingen and his wife Betsy Pingen run the program together and teach with student helpers David Ebrahim, Nathan Cole, Jewelia Black and Tim Boccarossa.
Every month, the meetings have a different theme. In August, the meetings were focused on back to school projects such as pencil boxes and sharpeners. In October, attendees created Star Wars themed projects such as toy lightsabers.
While some projects can be used for more recreational purposes, such as toys and fidget spinners, the uses for 3D printing expand to costumes for the theater program, art projects and even temporary prosthetic body parts.
“Right now, we are collaborating with West Tennessee Healthcare with some clients that have problems or are missing part of their hand,” Pingen said.
3D printed prosthetics have increased in popularity due to how cost efficient and fully customizable they are.
“It’s most applicable for kids because kids grow a lot, and you really can’t afford to buy a new $15,000 prosthetic for a kid every six months,” Pingen said.
In November, the workshops will shift their focus to preparing for a worldwide 3D printing and assistive technology competition called the make:able challenge.
“It’s a six month challenge for teams of five students to come up with a design idea for someone that has a physical need. This is only the second year of the competition, but this will be our first year,” Pingen said.
Students chosen to participate will have a chance to win prizes for their school or organization along with the opportunity to see how their ideas can transform real lives.
Though all of the workshops for this year are at full capacity, the engineering program intends to continue offering these camps into 2022.
Contact Georg Pingen at gpingen@uu.edu for more information.
