Now that he has a new foot, Sam Svoboda is ready for Little League season.
A team of four mechanical engineering students recently designed and manufactured a high-performance prosthesis for 12-year-old Sam, whose cancerous left foot was amputated two years ago.
The project was a final exam of sorts for the students' Medical Device Design and Evaluation course, which Sam's father, John, MBA '83, learned about after meeting mechanical engineering professor Tom Andriacchi during a visit to Stanford.
Jim Maltese, one of the students involved in the project, said one of their challenges was to create a prosthesis that was appropriate for Sam's weight and gait. "The [prosthetic] foot he was using was designed for a 200-pound man," Maltese said."We wanted something that would be versatile, geared to his size and use."
They made a mold and, with the help of engineers in Stanford's aero-astro laboratory, manufactured a prosthesis made of carbon fiber, the same material used to make airplanes. In late April, Sam and his father visited the laboratory to test the prototype. The engineers were looking for data that might help them improve the foot's performance, but Sam had his own criteria for evaluating their work. "He liked what it did for his baseball swing," Maltese said.
Using Sam's feedback and results from biomotion tests, the team modified the original design and on June 13 presented the final product to Sam. The entire Svoboda family flew from Chicago for the event. "Regardless of how the foot performs, the energy and compassion those guys have given -- we'll never forget it," John Svoboda said.
"This class was the reason that I came to Stanford," said Maltese, MS '01. "To build something and see it helping this great kid, it's like a dream."
