GR students invent the Handy Typer

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Mrs. Gasper's engineering students at Grand Rapids Catholic Central High School invented a prosthetic hand that they call the Handy Typer . It helps with the obvious...typing...but also "it helps in terms of holding mainly because of the rubber coating, so it does grip," said student Kevin Greene.

They say the purpose behind the device was to create something they could enter in the National Engineering Design Challenge through JETS (Junior Engineering Technical Society).

The design made it to the finals -- one of five nationwide.

Some motivation close to home helped the students focus in on their product.

"We thought it would be easy to make a prosthetic for somebody that we knew, instead of just a hypothetical person," said student Ann Schumar.

And that person is right in their school -- Mr. Martin.

"I used to be a left hander, a proud left hander, and this has given me my left hand back," said Mike Martin, who teaches religion at Catholic Central.

He lost his left hand in an accident more than 40 years ago. The result today -- some frustration doing seemingly simple tasks, like typing a test.

That is until he recently received some help.

"What I found was that this will…I'm sure will get me an extra hour or so every day for the rest of my life," Martin said.

A useful design that means so much more to the man who it was made for.

"So every time I use the appliance I'm not just doing a task. I'm feeling their love," Martin said.

The students say they were able to make one of the Handy Typers for only $20 -- a minimal cost compared to the price tag of thousands for other prosthetics.

They hope to patent the design someday.

But first things first -- the group will take their device and compete at the end of the month in Washington, D.C.