Country of Residence
United States
Age
17
Project title
Empower3D
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
Empower3D is a student-founded nonprofit that harnesses the power of 3D printing to design, prototype, and completely donate custom sensory supports and tactile learning tools, striving to empower neurodiverse and visually impaired children nationwide by eliminating financial barriers to accessibility and ensuring every child has the highly specialized, engaging resources they need to comfortably learn, play, and thrive in their daily lives, one innovative printed design at a time.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://www.empower3d.online/
Project Category
My project is a brand new / emerging idea
Project Stage
Scaling (We’re expanding impact to new locations or in new and innovative ways)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
I still remember the way he covered his ears. The room wasn't dangerous — just loud. Lockers slamming, shoes squeaking, voices bouncing off every wall. For most of us it barely registered. But my closest childhood friend stood frozen in the middle of it, trying to disappear inside a space everyone else walked through without a second thought. That image stuck with me. It made something click: the world isn't built the same way for everyone. A hallway that's nothing to one person can be overwhelming to another, and there's rarely anything built to help with that gap. I couldn't make the room quieter. But I had a 3D printer, CAD skills, and a stubborn belief I could build something that would. The first attempts humbled me. Joints snapped. Edges were too rough. Designs that looked clever on screen weren't comfortable in someone's hands. That failure became its own spark — it pushed me to stop designing alone and start designing with people who'd actually use these tools. My friend and I brought in therapists and community partners, and the devices got better: smoother, sturdier, built for a real day at school instead of a demo table. The real "aha" came later, after we'd distributed thousands of devices. A call from Sophia, connected through Autism Speaks NE, told us her infinity cube helped her get through recess — worth building for the long run.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
Assistive and sensory tools for children are often expensive, slow to obtain through insurance and medical supply chains, or simply not customized to a specific child's needs. A sensory tool that helps one child regulate during a loud, overwhelming moment might do nothing for another — but most commercial options are one-size-fits-all, and families are often left waiting months for something that could be designed and printed in days. This matters to me personally: watching a close friend struggle in ordinary, everyday spaces showed me that the world isn't built the same way for everyone, and that gap between "standard" and "actually helpful" is where kids get left behind. Empower3D exists to close that gap using accessible 3D-printing technology, working directly with therapists and families instead of guessing at what's needed.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
Empower3D designs and 3D-prints custom assistive and sensory devices for children. We work directly with families, therapists, and community partners (like Autism Speaks NE) to understand a specific need, then engineer and iterate the design in CAD before printing and delivering the physical device — often at a fraction of the cost and wait time of commercial alternatives. Early prototypes taught us that good intentions alone aren't enough: joints snapped, edges were rough, designs looked interesting but weren't comfortable for daily use. So our process evolved to center feedback from the people actually using the tools — smoother edges, stronger hinges, safer textures, and designs built to survive everyday wear. What started as me and my co-founder Harish printing devices ourselves has grown into a distributed model: 35 volunteers across the country now help print, assemble, and design devices, letting us scale nationally instead of staying limited to what two people could produce by hand.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
Empower3D has distributed 3,000+ sensory and assistive devices to 800+ children across the country, built and delivered by a growing volunteer network of 35 people nationwide. But the numbers are really a proxy for moments like the call we got from Sophia, connected through Autism Speaks NE, who told us her infinity cube helped her get through recess. That's the kind of impact that doesn't show up in a spreadsheet — a kid getting through their day a little more easily because a tool existed that actually fit their needs.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Most efforts to help kids with sensory or assistive needs either rely on expensive, mass-manufactured commercial products, or on one-off classroom/DIY fixes that aren't durable or scalable. Empower3D sits in between: we use 3D printing to make custom-fit devices at low cost, but we've built an actual process around it — iterating designs based on real feedback from therapists and families, and distributing that process through a volunteer network rather than keeping production centralized. That's what lets us scale nationally (35 volunteers across the USA) while keeping devices tailored to individual kids' needs, something neither big commercial suppliers nor small local maker efforts typically manage to do at the same time.
How many people are on your team?
35
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
Empower3D started as just me and my co-founder Harish, splitting design and outreach work between us. We've since grown to 35 volunteers across the country who help print, assemble, and design devices. I lead overall direction and device design; Harish leads operations as COO. Volunteers take ownership of their own regional print/assembly work, so leadership is shared rather than centralized — we coordinate, but local volunteers decide how best to serve their communities.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next year, our main focus is scaling device production and distribution. That means growing our volunteer network beyond 35 people so we can reach more communities without bottlenecking through a small core team, streamlining our design library so volunteers can print proven designs faster, and deepening partnerships with organizations like Autism Speaks NE so requests reach us directly instead of through word-of-mouth alone. The goal is to turn what's currently a volunteer-coordinated effort into a more repeatable pipeline — from request, to design, to print, to delivery — so we can meaningfully increase how many kids we reach nationally.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We've grown from two people to 35 volunteers across the USA, all of whom help print, assemble, or design devices. Most joined after seeing the impact of a device on a specific child — the Sophia/Autism Speaks NE story, for example, has been one of our most effective ways of showing people why this work matters. Volunteers aren't just extra hands; they take ownership of serving their own regions, which is how we've been able to scale nationally instead of staying limited to what a founding team of two could produce alone.
