Cal Poly students create prosthetic device to help Navy veteran

Four years ago, Taylor Morris was walking through a remote region of Afghanistan when his legs and arms were blown off by an improvised explosive.

Now, Cal Poly is helping the Navy veteran live a full life by inventing a device that will make it easier for him to attach the prosthetic legs he uses to run and swim.

The Cedar Falls, Iowa, resident found himself in the national spotlight after photos he shared with Danielle, the girlfriend who would become his wife, attracted widespread online attention. Their inspirational love story that survived war and his recovery led to an interview with Matt Lauer on the “Today” show and a TED Talk.

Morris’ recovery process was arduous; he received medical care and rehabilitation at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and had to learn to live with help, including often needing assistance detaching the prosthetic legs he uses for walking and replacing them with the prosthetics specifically designed for exercise.

That’s where Cal Poly comes in.

Morris would like to exercise daily but hasn’t been meeting his goal, partly because changing out the prosthetic limbs can take time and requires help.

“He’s often reluctant to ask for someone else’s help,” said Danielle Morris, who visited Cal Poly with her husband Friday. “His (prosthetic) legs for running and swimming just sat there.”

So, students in Cal Poly’s QL+ lab developed a device that enables Taylor Morris to change his prosthetic legs on his own.

QL+ stands for “Quality of Life Plus.” The program was created in collaboration with Cal Poly in 2009 by Jon Monett, a former CIA official and Cal Poly alum who connects military veterans in need with the program, helping them overcome physical challenges.

Mechanical engineering majors Greg Orekhov and Zachary Hanze and biomedical engineering student Andre Arguelles designed “Quick Swap” for Morris. Their innovation allows Morris to use his prosthetic right hand to unclip the legs by pinching levers that detach them. Morris then can attach his alternate legs, all on his own, in a matter of seconds.

A similar device exists on the market, but the mechanism requires the use of five fully functional fingers to lock it in. Morris’ capabilities allow him only to grip objects by clasping together artificial fingers.

“This will make things so much easier for me,” Morris said. “Now, what you have to do is use a (cog bolt tool) and turn it around and around several times. With one motion, a pinch, now I can cinch in. ... It’s great for me. The whole thing is a lot easier.”

Morris said a friend of his connected him with Monett and the QL+ program. Taylor and Danielle Morris visited the Cal Poly lab for the first time Friday. They had been in frequent email and video communication with the students leading up to the visit.

Another group of QL+ lab students has created a new system to cool the inside of Taylor Morris’ leg prosthesis.

His body temperature radiates into the carbon fibers of the artificial limbs, causing the legs to heat up uncomfortably where they connect with his thigh.

“If the blood gets out to your fingers, it has a way of cooling you off,” Morris said. “But I get really hot. It’s pretty uncomfortable. And the carbon fibers prosthetics also heat up and touch my skin, so I need a way to cool off.”

Every year, groups of Cal Poly students, typically from a variety of disciplines, take on about five to 10 projects as part of their QL+ lab work. Their work is either part of a senior project or through the QL+ club on campus.

Monett said Cal Poly students typically have about nine months to complete their projects, similar to the deadlines he was under as a technical expert in the CIA.

“We set out helping members of the military, first responders and intelligence officials,” Monett said. “But there are others we help, too. The Cal Poly students are just great. It’s no longer about getting a grade. It’s about helping people and identifying how to address problems with real challenges people have.”

Mechanical engineering student Mark Oppenheimer spent his afternoon Friday tinkering with a prosthetic hand, created from the lab’s 3-D printer, for a 6-year-old who lives in Nipomo. The boy’s dream is to grip the handlebars of his bike properly, he said.

As students made adjustments to the Quick Swap, Morris successfully unhooked his prosthetic legs himself but had some trouble getting them on. Students suggested that he use his shoe as a brace to hold the leg steady as he clipped in.

“That’s something we may still need to work on, but overall this already is a drastic improvement from what he was able to do before,” Orekhov said. “... The reason I came to Cal Poly is because of this program. I want to do this kind of work in my career.”

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Cal Poly students create prosthetic device to help Navy veteran."