The BOB-1 prototype enabled Danielle Fairchild to hold a pencil and write for the first time. This simple device is easy to put on and take off, comfortable, cost-effective, and most important it works!

FIRST LEGO Team Makes Prosthetic to Help Adopted Orphan

By Shana Benzinane & Christina D’Auria

In Yangquan, China, a baby is born without fingers and is left at the steps of an orphanage.

A family in Duluth, Ga., decides it may be time to grow.

Meantime, six girls descend from a fir tree in Ames, Iowa, with the answer to a very serious problem.

What do these souls have in common? At first blush, nothing. But a deeper look reveals a common bond that will tie them for a lifetime.

Like many enduring ideas, this story has its beginnings on a napkin.

Dale Fairchild and her adopted daughter, Danielle, were united when Danielle was a toddler. This beautiful brown-skinned baby, with silky, black hair, was born without fingers on her dominant hand. For that reason she was deemed a “special needs” child and began life without a mother’s love and without a proper bed to lie in.

The Fairchild family had been waiting to adopt for more than two years – short compared to the near-decade other families typically wait for “non special-needs” children.

When the phone call came, Dale was sorting cookies with the Girl Scouts. She excitedly wrote down the agency’s information on a napkin – and rushed out of the meeting into the February air to begin the adoption journey.

The adoption was finalized when Danielle was nearly 2. Dale fondly remembered the first time she met her daughter in a dark, smog-filled coal-mining village in Northern China. The orphanage sat on a quiet, dirt road.

According to Dale, the newest member of the Fairchild family had an energy about her; she was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy place.

“Danielle was sassy,” she said.

The family traveled home with their toddler, who easily adjusted to her new surroundings and siblings. To make Danielle’s transition as easy as possible, Dale researched and connected on Yahoo! with other families affected by limb differences. Although Dale had professional experience working with children who had special needs, she had never dealt with them in her personal life.

Nine-hundred miles away, in Iowa, a team called the “Flying Monkeys” was on a quest to solve a real-world biomedical engineering challenge, assigned to them in their FIRST LEGO League season called “Body Forward.”

“Mommy, I can write with my other hand!”
–Three-year-old Danielle

This all-girl team composed of six Girl Scouts was hard at work researching solutions to limb differences for their project. The girls were interested in this topic because one of their teammates has missing fingers on her non-dominant hand.

The Flying Monkeys embraced the project. They conducted hours of extensive research. They visited various manufacturers and occupational therapists. And they connected with people who had limb differences.

The team researched support websites and learned that people were looking for a tool to help loved-ones swim, play baseball and violin… basically to enjoy tasks others take for granted.

After Dale posted about her daughter’s desire to write with her dominant hand, The Flying Monkeys made contact and decided to work on a solution for 3-year-old Danielle.

The girls worked back and forth through Skype and emails, sharing countless photographs and sketches – while remaining miles apart from Dale and Danielle. Ultimately, the Flying Monkeys crafted a prototype out of plastic, foam and Velcro, which they named “The BOB-1.”

When Danielle received the prototype in the mail, she was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to open her box of crayons.

“Mommy, I can write with my other hand!” Dale recalled her daughter saying.

Dale documented experiments using The BOB-1, and the team made extra adaptations. They coined their revision prototype “The BOB-1 (Point Two).”

During the FIRST LEGO League season, the Flying Monkeys had wowed judges with their research project and eventually submitted their story and the drawings to the Global Innovation Award. This “kid inventor” contest for FIRST LEGO League teams is presented by the X PRIZE Foundation in conjunction with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

The BOB-1 won the contest and the team earned a $20,000 award to apply toward the patenting process. At the June ceremony in Alexandria, Va., the Flying Monkeys got to meet Danielle for the first time.

“To us, Danielle’s limb difference is not really a special need,” said Dale, adding that the family’s eternally grateful for the creativity and hard work of the Flying Monkeys. “As she has gotten older – and particularly after using the BOB — she’s figured out that there’s a lot more that she can do with her dominant hand.”

To follow the Flying Monkeys on Facebook, search “The Flying Monkeys Lego League Team.” For more information on the FIRST LEGO League, visit www.firstlegoleague.org.

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