CSU engineering students design devices so man without arms can 'live like everyone else'

Jian Cohen would love to be able to jump in a car, drive to Five Guys and enjoy a burger and fries like any other 20-year-old college student.

Cohen, though, was born without arms. He can’t drive a car, and he eats using his feet, a method that’s frowned upon by other customers, not to mention restaurant managers and owners fearful of violating health codes.

Cohen, 20, just wants to “live like everyone else,” he said.

Two groups of engineering students at Colorado State University, where Cohen is studying computer information systems, are doing their part to help him achieve that goal.

As their senior capstone project, one group of five students designed, built and tested a pair of low-cost prosthetics that would allow Cohen to comfortably eat in public.

Another group, volunteering their time as members of CSU’s Biomedical Engineering Society, modified a driving simulator with a foot-operated steering wheel and dashboard controls that Cohen can work with the small fingers of his upper arm. The goal is to put the controls they created into an actual car that Cohen could drive next fall, project leader Ian Lohrisch said Monday at CSU’s annual Engineering Days Showcase at the Lory Student Center.

“It’s super exciting,” Cohen said while participating in demonstrations of the two projects at different booths — one inside a ballroom at the student center, and the other on the pedestrian plaza outside. “It’s just a new side of my life right now.”

More than 400 engineering students at CSU presented projects Monday, filling 50 tables in the ballroom with the smaller projects and displays — think elementary or middle-school science fair with far more sophisticated devices and projects — and more than a dozen larger projects, including full-size racecars, under awnings on the plaza.

All the projects represent the work students have put in and knowledge gained while pursuing bachelor’s degrees in various branches of engineering from CSU. More than 1,000 students, friends, families, faculty, staff and community members wandered around inside and out throughout the day to see the projects and hear students explain how their prototype devices functioned.

The two projects designed around the needs of Cohen were among the most popular. Heather Zoccali, the mother of Cohen’s childhood friend and roommate, helped get him connected with CSU’s biomedical engineering program.

Design-team members Dillon Fiore and Amy Keisling proudly explained that the prosthetics they made for Cohen were created out of components that cost less than $300 and were easy to repair and replace. For contrast, they had a high-tech commercial prosthetic arm at their table that cost upwards of $15,000, designed to attach to a mechanical hand that costs as much as $70,000, they said.

The commercial prosthetic was certainly more appealing, with skin-tone coating and the circumference of a human arm.

For Cohen, though, the cheap version, made mostly from black PA 12 plastic on a 3-D printer at Quorum Prosthetics in Windsor, was a better fit.

Wires, powered by a replaceable battery inside that runs for a little more than seven hours between charges, were visible on the inside of the right elbow joint. Cohen has controls to rotate the wrist, and the hand was a circular hook that closed completely when he grasped an item.

It weighs far less than the 10 to 20 pounds of a standard arm and hand prosthetic, Cohen said, and was the appropriate length for his 5-foot-3 frame.

“This one is just a lot easier,” he said.

Other members of the design team were Kileigh Palmer, Mykala Coe and Zach Wilemon.

The prosthetic for Cohen’s left arm is less functional, the students said, providing the stability and movement needed to help him eat and drink, but nothing more. They hope a future class of CSU engineering students will pick the project up where they left off and continue to make improvements, Keisling said.

Cohen is a sophomore and will be at CSU for at least two more years, working toward his bachelor’s degree.

His participation in the design process is what makes these two projects unique, said Sam Bechara, the assistant professor in mechanical engineering who has overseen CSU’s Engineering Days for the past 10 years.

“The cool thing about their solutions and one of the things I like about both of them so much is how custom they are,” Bechara said. “They’re for Jian. A lot of times there’s these off-the-shelf products that are ... a little too heavy or they don’t do exactly what you need. That’s why I think these are so cool. They’re purpose built.”

Cohen attended most of the meetings each group had, told them what he liked and disliked about the devices they were designing and was available whenever they needed for testing. He even helped build the driving simulator, working alongside Lohrisch over the weekend to finish wiring the control boards. Lohrisch clipped and stripped the wires, while Cohen, using his toes, did the soldering.

The design, Lohrisch said, was inspired by the work of Richie Parker, an engineer born with no arms who designed racing and safety gear for one of NASCAR’s top teams, Hendrick Motorsports, for 12 years. Parker created a foot-wheel for his own car that’s similar to the one the Biomechanical Engineering Society students put on their simulator for Cohen, attaching it through the floor to the rack-and-pinion steering system.

A large video display where the windshield would be provides a simulated driving course, with turns, traffic, lane changes, signs, signals and obstacles to avoid.

Cohen steers with his left foot and works the accelerator and brake pedals with his right foot. A control panel to his right, just below his shoulder, allows him to operate turn signals, headlights, windshield wipers and an audio system.

They left the steering wheel in place, Lohrisch said, to avoid disabling the airbag and other safety features.

Cohen has driven four-wheel drive vehicles off road near Durango, where he went to high school. But he’s never been able to get a driver’s license or legally drive on city streets.

Lohrisch and Carter Giles led the BMES team, which at times had as many as 50 students involved in its meetings. That’s far more people than the 15 to 20 who usually participate in club projects, Bechara said.

“It’s truly amazing,” he said. “I’ve been a faculty adviser to BMES, which is a club, for 10 years, and it’s kind of like boomed and busted; it goes through a cyclical thing. But this year, they’re just off the charts. They’re super motivated, and they're motivated for the right reasons; they just want to get this thing to work. They want to make it for Jian. This is exceptional, like truly exceptional.”

The BMES students’ design might be the breakthrough that allows Cohen to drive himself to Five Guys and, using his prosthetic arms, eat a burger and fries at a table with friends.

You could picture it clearly Monday, as Cohen grinned from ear to ear while working the foot-wheel steering and pedals on the driving simulator outside before moving indoors to grab a bite to eat.

Literally.

Putting on the prosthetics, he reached out to a plate Coe held in front of him, picked up a piece of bread and ate it.

Cohen’s expression of joy lit up the room.

“It’s super gratifying the way that we can help improve his life,” Wilemon said. “That smile he’s been wearing all day. That is the best feeling that anyone can feel.”

Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.