3D Printing in STEM Education: Hacking the Raptor Reloaded to Create the Grab-Tor

Formnext Germany

Share this Article

When I was a kid, eons ago, I got a toy that was a plastic grabber on the end of a stick, controlled by squeezing or releasing a whole hand trigger in the handle. I was, as you can no doubt imagine, super cool. This grabber gave me the capacity to easily pick up, and then most likely drop, any lightweight, smallish object within a four foot radius. I was happy. Not only was it satisfying to wield such power, the closest thing I’d had to magic since an egg cracking debacle let to the confiscation of my cape and top hat, but I could also chase my younger brother through the yard in the guise of Grabtor the Evil.

grabtor2-768x432Of course, back then, you had to just accept whatever $1.00 version of this delight was available, and since I grew up in rural South Carolina there weren’t many, but now with the introduction of makerspaces, one educator has realized just how much learning can come out of making your own grabbers. And I’m not even a little bit jealous that he developed the name Grab-Tor to describe the kids’ creations. The man in charge of this awesome project is Rich Lehrer and his involvement with functioning 3D printed devices is something close to his heart.

Since 2013, he has been working with his students at Brookwood School in Manchester-By-The-Sea, MA to create 3D printed prosthetic hands for his son Max who was born with an upper limb difference. Lehrer has long been immersed in the community surrounding e-NABLE. In other words, he has been fully immersed and personally dedicated to helping students learn about advanced technologies in the process of creating functioning prosthetics.

untitled-1-600x225It’s a great project that gives kids a sense of purpose to learning, but it’s not so easy to build a working prosthetic hand. So, Rich started looking for ways to more gradually introduce the project without losing the sense of purpose and goal oriented nature of the prosthetic hand itself. Then, he experienced a blinding flash of the obvious:

thumb“While in the middle of a 5th grade eNABLE unit with my colleague, Henry Oettinger, we were having the students work through a Design Squad Global project building cardboard and duct tape ‘grabbers’ to introduce some of the ideas surrounding assistive devices. Half way through the activity, we realized that if we could have the students create 3D printed grabbers based on the hands they would soon be building we would be able to provide them with increased education experiences involving designing, critical thinking, 3D modeling, and learning of STEM concepts and skills. In an instant, we had created a new educational approach that we call ‘Raptor Hacking’ in which students remix the files of existing Raptor Reloaded hands to create a grabbing Raptor or ‘Grab-Tor.'”

What ensued was a mini-project in which the students pulled Raptor Reloaded files into TinkerCAD and created a ring with knuckles on it that could be fitted over a PVC pipe. The knuckles were then connected to the fingers designed for Raptor Reloaded and the entire creation was made functional through the attachment of cords, bungee, and finger rings. Allowing the kids the opportunity to personalize their devices led to the creation of things such as the addition of bear claws. And the avenues for exploration just keep laying themselves out before Lehrer as he explores the landscape of possibilities within what was originally conceived of as a first step project.

grabtorearnit“This week I began collaborating with Brookwood life sciences teacher, CJ Bell, on a natural selection and adaptation project in which students design removable finger extensions to change the functionality of the device in response to variations in ‘food’ (different shapes of pasta) availability. Additionally, I hope to soon be reporting about collaborations with a number of natural history organizations in which students are able to digitally scan claws, beaks, jaws, and tentacles of different animals and graft these structures onto Grab-Tors in order to both test their functionality and actively integrate 3D printing into the study of life sciences.”

In addition to running this project in his classroom, Lehrer has also released the hacking project in a Google file which walks you through the steps. You can earn this badge for completing this project, too, either as a group or an individual. It’s possible that I’m just going through a midlife crisis, but I’ve already figured out a pretty awesome animalized version that I’d like to make for myself.  I think with just the right design, I could finally catch my brother. Discuss in the Grab-Tor forum at 3DPB.com.

[Source: e-NABLE]

 



Share this Article


Recent News

Lawmakers Reignite Effort to Block Online Sharing of 3D Printed Gun Files

Juggerbot 3D and ORNL Collaborate on 3D Printing of Thermosets and Thermoplastics



Categories

3D Design

3D Printed Art

3D Printed Food

3D Printed Guns


You May Also Like

3D Printing News Briefs, June 11, 2025: Sustainability, Automotive Tooling, & More

We’re starting with sustainability news in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, as EOS has strengthened its commitment on climate responsibility, and Zestep is making 3D printing filament out of eyewear...

3D Printing 50 Polymer Stand-In Parts for Tokamaks at the PPPL & Elytt Energy

Of all the world’s things, a tokamak is one of the hardest, most complex, expensive and exacting ones to make. These fusion energy devices make plasma, and use magnets to...

3D Printing News Briefs, May 17, 2025: Color-Changing Materials, Humanoid Robot, & More

We’re covering research innovations in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs! First, Penn Engineering developed 3D printed materials that change color under stress, and UC Berkeley researchers created an open source,...

Featured

Firehawk Aerospace Partners with JuggerBot 3D, Gets $1.25M from AFWERX for 3D Printed Propellants

Texas-based Firehawk Aerospace, an advanced energetic materials firm that works with aerospace and defense applications, announced a strategic partnership with JuggerBot 3D, an Ohio-based large-format 3D printer manufacturer. Together, the...