Tennessee students create robotic hand for new classmate

Attending a new school can be a difficult challenge for any student, but fortunately for one 15-year-old in Tennessee, he found a group of innovative students who changed his life.

Sergio Peralta started the new school year at Hendersonville High School with a secret — a hand that didn’t fully form.

“In the first days of school, I honestly felt like hiding my hand,” he told CBS News. “Like nobody would ever find out.”

A teacher in the school’s engineering program did find out, though, and told Peralta that his classmates might be able to help out.

“They ended up offering me, like, ‘We could build your prosthetic hand’, and I never expected it,” he said. “Like, never in a million years.”

With access to online models and a 3D printer, the group — which didn’t even know if their plan would work — hit a home run. Using the prosthetic, Peralta was able to catch a baseball with his right hand for the first time.

“They changed my life,” Peralta said.