Every year, the Extreme Redesign Challenge calls upon tomorrow’s engineers, artists and entrepreneurs to design a better future. It is a test to see who can come up with the most creative, mechanically sound, and realistically achievable design using 3D printing. Seven winners were selected and received scholarships for their efforts as well as features on our website and blog.
Grayson Galisky has built seven 3D printers….and he’s only 18.
The high school senior from Los Alamitos, California, and Extreme Redesign Challenge winner for Engineering: Secondary Education, began 3D printing when he was 14 and hasn’t stopped since. Whether it’s making a prototype for a class project or a mechanical keyboard just for fun, Galisky continues to improve his 3D printing skills with each project. Galisky’s latest project, and Extreme Redesign Challenge entry, is a biomimetic prosthetic hand, which simulates human-like movements and features a realistic hand structure. It features 54 different STL files and incorporates the major components of the human hand, which allows for higher dexterity. Galisky makes sure to give credit where credit is due, giving praise to the University of Washington researchers who inspired his design.
The best part…he started working on the project before he even knew the Extreme Redesign Challenge existed. Initially, Galisky chose to do this as his senior year engineering project after getting inspiration from the research paper on the subject. He had an idea he was going to submit it in a 3D printing competition to see if he could get some scholarship money but didn’t have a particular one in mind. He soon stumbled across the Stratasys Extreme Redesign Challenge, recognized the Stratasys name, determined it fit the bill, and entered the competition. The scholarship money he’ll be getting will go toward his education at Cal State Long Beach in the fall where he’ll be studying mechanical engineering. His decision to study mechanical engineering stems from his love for robotics and interest in prosthetics.
Eventually, Galisky wants to start his own robotics business, sticking close to 3D printing after seeing all the benefits it adds to his projects. He is a “big open source guy” as well and enjoys sharing his designs on platforms like GrabCAD so other engineers can draw inspiration from him and vice versa. When asked what role 3D Printing will play in his future, Galisky confidently replied, “For the things that I’ll be working on, 3D printing is definitely going to be a part of it.”
To learn more about Grayson’s project, click here.
To learn more about the Extreme Redesign Challenge, click here.
