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Robotics Students Return from Latest Humanitarian Medical Mission to Ecuador

Posted on August 30, 2025, by J Bradshaw.

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CMSD high school students, representing five high school robotics teams with the Great Lakes Science Center’s Robotics Initiative, display their work for Ecuadorian news media. – Image credit: Great Lakes Science Center  

 

Student representatives from several local high school robotics teams have returned to Cleveland from Latacunga, Ecuador, after delivering custom-made 3D-printed prosthetic hands and arms to waiting children and families in need, and helping an international team of medical volunteers give free treatment to over 800 patients with all kinds of medical conditions.

 

In addition to working directly with doctors and nurses to provide life-changing aid, the students also had an opportunity to meet with government officials and local educators, as they helped promote local STEM initiatives. The students, who all participate in the Great Lakes Science Center's Robotics Initiative, also met with college students from a nearby technical school to answer their questions and to help them lay the foundation for starting their own prosthetics program to serve communities throughout the region. 

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The 10-day humanitarian mission was organized by Med Access International, a US-based volunteer aid organization that runs humanitarian medical missions to impoverished communities throughout Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean. 

 

For the past four years, Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) students affiliated with the Great Lakes Science Center's Robotics Initiative have been working collaboratively on Saturday mornings during the offseason to create custom-made, 3D-printed prosthetic hands and arms for child amputees in underserved communities around the world. To date, participating CMSD students have designed and fabricated 3D-printed upper-limb prosthetic devices for more than sixty (60) recipients. The Robotics Initiative students call this student-led, global community service project “Hands Across Borders.”

 

About the 2025 Summer Medical Mission

During this most recent mission, Robotics Initiative students saw 20 patients in need of upper-limb prosthetic devices. Unfortunately, they were not able to help everyone. The complexity of some of the injuries, including shoulder disarticulation (the removal of the entire arm at the shoulder joint) and transhumeral (above the elbow) amputations, was simply outside the student’s ability and experience to treat. Additionally, a large number of adult patients required larger-sized parts for their prosthesis that could not be fabricated using the 3D printers the team had brought along. Instead, the team elected to manufacture those parts in the larger printers at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, then assemble the devices and ship them to Med Access International for later delivery to Ecuador.

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​15-year-old Deysi is all smiles as she learns to use her new a 3D-printed prosthetic arm. – Image credit: Great Lakes Science Center  

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In all, the students fitted seven patients with 3D-printed prostheses, including four adults and three adolescent youth. The students returned to the United States with six additional orders which are currently being completed and prepared for shipment.

 

Students also 3D-printed and delivered an experimental NIOP Modular Arm System to 16-year-old Samantha, an existing patient from a previous mission trip to Ecuador. Samantha’s new experimental arm is the first of its kind, specifically designed by Robotics Initiative students for patients with transhumeral amputations. Samantha and her family will provide feedback on the new arm for the next few months. If all goes well, the Robotics Initiative students will develop more of this special type of prosthesis to help patients with similar conditions.

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Yariselle Andujar, a CMSD high school student and program participant with the Great Lakes Science Center’s Robotics Initiative, assists 16-year old Samantha into her new custom-made 3D-printed prosthetic arm.– Image credit: Great Lakes Science Center  

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Computer-Aided Design drawing of  a NIOP Modular Arm for patients with an below the elbow amputation. Cleveland students have modified this design to acomadate patients like Samantha with above the elbow amputations. – Image credit: eNABLE website.   

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.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​During the mission, when not working directly with prosthetic patients, the Robotics Initiative students assisted in the triage area by serving as translators, runners, and collecting vital signs (height, weight, blood pressure, etc.) on over 800 walk-in patients. Student team members also helped in the Pharmacy by stocking and inventorying supplies and by delivering medicines to the various departments that needed them. While assisting in Surgical Care, Spanish-speaking students and mentors served as translators, facilitating communication between surgeons and patients, as well as with local hospital staff, for over a third of the nearly 100 surgeries performed.

 

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​Left Image - Dr. Bell (right forground) and his surgical team prep a young boy for surgury. Right Image - Robotics Inititive student Ahnaf Haque (left) prepares to take blood pressure reading on a walk-in patient in Triage – Image credit: Great Lakes Science Center.   

 

Shadowing Opportunities

In addition to working with and learning from emergency room physicians and nurses in the Triage area, this mission also provided the Robotics Initiative students with some unique shadowing opportunities with some of the finest medical professionals in the country. These opportunities included shadowing Gloria Soto-Reyes, the Director of Physical Therapy for the mission. Gloria provided expert guidance to the students on how to train patients to use their new prosthetic devices, including how to isolate and exercise the specific muscle groups needed to operate their new 3D-printed device effectively. Students were able to work with and learn from Dr. Cristobal Barrios, Jr. and Dr. Desmond Bell, two of the world-class surgeons who, with their elite surgical teams, volunteered to travel with Med Access International on this mission.  The surgeries observed included a vasectomy and both “open” and “laparoscopic” hernia repair. Robotics Initiative students also observed several surgeries involving the removal of cancerous growths and a leg amputation.  

 

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​Jovanni Bearden (center left) and Daniela Moreno Machuca (right) explaine the 3D fabrication process to Hospital administrators and local media. – Image credit: Great Lakes Science Center.   

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Specialized Training

"Training is essencial to meeting the needs of Med Access International and their patients," says JonDarr Bradshaw, Project Lead for the Hands Across Boarders Project. So, in addition to the advanced computer-aided design and additive manufacturing technology training each of the Program participants recieved at the Great Lakes Science Center, and the required hours of volunteer service required to demonstrait their proficiency with the design software and fabrication equipment and the assembly process, the six selected high school student were also required to earn certifications in Emergency First Aid, CPR/AED, and Bloodborne Pathogens, through the American Red Cross, and completed an internationally recognised Global Competency course through the Cleveland Council on World Affairs before being deployed to the summer humanitarian medical mission site. 

 

Bradshaw, who directs the program, says that through this global community service project, participating high school students are not only discovering how STEM can be used to make their community and the world a better place, but they are also learning empathy, respect, and the meaning and importance of “service before self.” It has already sparked an interest in several possible careers, such as Biomedical Engineering, Non-Profit Program Management, and International Relations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tallyah, a high school sophmore and the youngest member of the mission team, said “This experience has forever changed my life and my career goals. I discovered that I enjoy being able to help people and that I get great personal satisfaction from seeing how grateful the patients were to receive something that I helped to create.”

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The trip was so successful that program administrators at the Great Lakes Science Center are already planning with mission organizers at Med Access International  to return to the region for next year's summer medical mission. We are now excepting applications for next year's summer mission. If you are a high school student who is interested in the project and can speak Spanish, and has, or can obtain, a valid U.S. paassport, we want to talk to you! Click HERE to apply online.

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