Dancer and performance artist Lisa Bufano, a bilateral leg and finger amputee, challenges the teams to build specialized prostheses for an underwater performance.
- 1) The Challenge (3:59)
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Bonus Footage
Inside the Green Team
Inside the Purple Team
- 1) The Challenge (3:59)
- 2) Brainstorm (4:57)
- 3) Design & Build (7:05)
- 4) Test (5:51)
- 5) Judging (5:41)
- See how they make custom prosthetics at Next Step, Inc.
- 2) Jason's Flipper Design
- 3) Tomas' Fin Design
- 4) Squirt Gun Attack!
- How do you design prosthetic legs and hands that can propel a performance artist through the water? They must be human powered, made of non-traditional materials, and inspired by sea creatures.
- Green Team starts by brainstorming a long list of interesting sea creatures to help them choose their theme. They pick the lionfish and start brainstorming what they can do with flippers and ping pong paddles.
- First they design the flipper to be made of a shaped piece of wood attached to a metal tube. They also cut long strips of fabric and attach them to the hand paddles with wire to give them shape.
- The foot flipper is designed to be one piece of wood attached to both feet. When Lisa puts it on, they discover her legs are different lengths, so they trace her legs to get the exact measurements to make the flipper fit perfectly. They cut their own hand paddles from high density plastic instead of using ping-pong paddles.
- At the final test, the lionfish costume really makes a splash. It's a little scary to swim in, but Lisa likes the challenge, and she loves the aesthetic and how much space it fills in the water. She feels that it really transforms her body, making the Green Team the winner of the challenge.
- How do you design prosthetic legs and hands that can propel a performance artist through the water? They must be human powered, made of non-traditional materials, and inspired by sea creatures.
- Purple Team is inspired by some parasols in the shop that remind them of jellyfish and could help propel Lisa through the water. They know they'll need more than that to help her move, so they decide on flippers for her feet.
- Sketching them on paper first, Purple Team designs the flippers in the shape of fish fins. They will be made of clear plastic with long colorful streamers attached. The modified umbrellas will be attached to wrist guards so Lisa can wear them.
- In testing, Lisa loves the look of the umbrellas, but isn't sure about how functional they will be. She thinks the flippers work very well but could look prettier, so Purple Team adds more streamers to them.
- At the final test, Lisa thinks the flippers have the better swimmability because they're easy to use and help her swim quickly. The hand umbrellas are a smart, beautiful concept, but one of them breaks while she's swimming. With these mixed reviews, they just don't quite measure up to the Green Team's design.
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