Metro Teen Recognized For Programming Robotic Hand

The prototype that Emily Haas built won her a national engineering competition.

The 16-year-old Deer Creek High School student printed a prosthetic hand with a 3D printer and made modifications.

“I wanted to help people and help them regain that freedom that they lost or never had with their amputation of their limb,” she said.

The device, which hooks up to the arm, is programmed to move the fingers on the robotic hand with the flex of a muscle. It gives the person much more control and use of the hand.

“They’re called myoelectric prosthetics,” Haas explained. “They take the nervous system signals and change them from a biological signal to a technology signal – just basically converting a human nervous system into wires and zeroes and ones.”

Haas spends part of her day at Francis Tuttle Technology Center in the pre-engineering academy, developing her skills in a field that's captured her curiosity for years and pursuing a future that allows her to share those skills with others.

“I would love to open my own prosthetics business,” she said. “Specializing in upper limb prosthetics.”