19 hours ago
Four best friends build lifelong bond and a prosthetic leg at Marcus High School in Flower Mound
While most high schoolers worry about grades, sports, and social status, three students at Marcus High School spent the past 18 months building something extraordinary: a mind-controlled prosthetic leg.
"Hundreds of hours," rising senior Eeshaan Prashanth said.
"I can't even keep track of how many hours," added Sam Skotnikov, another rising senior.
Their dedication even got them grounded.
"They were not happy. I was grounded for a month," Prashanth said of his parents.
From paper cups to bionics
CBS News Texas
Along with their friend Chanyoung Kim, the trio built the leg from scratch, starting with paper cups, hot glue, and servos. After nearly 40 iterations, they developed a working prototype that responds to brain signals via a Bluetooth-connected headset.
"It records the actual electrical frequencies of the brain and assigns them numerical values," Prashanth explained.
Designed to help one friend walk
While the technology has the potential to help millions of amputees, the students had one person in mind: their friend and classmate, Aiden Ballinger.
"We saw him day after day pulling up in a wheelchair to class," said Skotnikov. "He had back pain and couldn't walk long distances."
Ballinger, a rising junior, has faced a lifetime of medical challenges, including three open-heart surgeries, scoliosis, and an amputation. "I was not expected to live for the first 24 hours of my life," he said.
A life-changing moment
When Ballinger first tested the leg, the results were immediate. "I thought down. And then the leg went down. And then I thought, up. And the leg went up. And I was like, okay, this is insane," he said.
"When he first moved using the leg, I was actually relieved," said Prashanth. "Like, this actually worked."
Recognition and lifelong friendship
The students won a $50,000 scholarship at the Regeneron International Science Fair, but they insist the real reward is helping their friend.
"Aiden's just one of our best friends," said Skotnikov. "Just a genuine friend that we had before we even started this project."
"These kids, it just surprised me with how much they could put into this," Ballinger said.
