Pick it up without bending down.

A motorized telescoping grabber for seniors, designed and built by four students for Project Invent.

14 million older Americans fall every year.

Falling is the leading cause of injury-related death and loss of independence for seniors. A dropped pill bottle or a TV remote on the floor should not be a risk.

  • Bending down

    Reaching the floor shifts balance forward, right where most falls start.

  • Falling

    One fall can mean a hospital stay and the end of living alone.

  • Hand dexterity

    Arthritis makes the hard squeeze of a store-bought reacher painful or impossible.

“Our residents and clients, they’re losing strength or arthritis is crippling their hands, so being able to just push a button and have it help them enables them to have that independence longer.”

Kara Rodriguez Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, Mozaic Senior Life
Team SO-lutions standing together in a classroom
Team SO-lutions: Delia Spiegelman, Kiersten Cavalli, Magdalena Bednarz and Uri Richardson.

It started as a cane that could grab.

In November 2025, Project Invent paired our team with Mozaic Senior Life and asked one question: what makes daily life harder for their residents? We filled a page with ideas, from a signature tablet to a two-size robot hand.

The one that stuck was a cane that also works as a grabber, something that could stop a fall when picking things up and even help pull up the covers at night.

Over the next six months that idea became Reach: a tool that extends on its own, so the user never has to bend, stretch or squeeze.

Mechanical design and fabrication
Uri Richardson
Electronics and software
Kiersten Cavalli
Pitch deck and communications
Delia Spiegelman, Magdalena Bednarz

The mechanism, first proven by hand.

  1. February 6, 2026. A drill stands in for the motor and spins lead screw A.
  2. The connector cannot rotate, so the thread drives it upward instead.
  3. The next stage climbs out of the one below it. Nested stages, one motor, no squeezing.

Six months, three versions, a lot of failed prints.

Every milestone below comes from the weekly design log and the Onshape model’s history.

  1. Brainstorm

    A list of ideas for senior living: a secure signing tablet, a hybrid walker and grabber, a robot hand, a cane that retracts.

  2. The grabber wins

    The team commits to a cane that doubles as a grabber and asks Mozaic for a follow-up meeting and quotes.

  3. The CAD file opens

    The Onshape document named REACH is created. It will grow to more than thirty part studios and assemblies.

    An empty Onshape part studio showing only the Top, Front and Right planes

  4. First lead screws

    Two lead screws threaded at 0.18 in pitch. Onshape cannot simulate the overlapping constraints, but the concept holds.

    CAD render of the first proof-of-concept lead screw Simulation failed

  5. Proof of concept, take one

    Printed lead screw A, lead screw B and connector C. The spline tip and thread tolerances were off, and B would not seat.

    Onshape screenshot of the first proof-of-concept lead screws Did not fit

  6. Proof of concept, take two

    Tolerance tests set a 1.5 mm thread offset and a 0.5 mm hex fit. The clear and white prototype extends exactly as planned.

    Onshape screenshot of the corrected proof-of-concept parts Worked

  7. Version 0.0 begins

    Lead screw A grows to 203 mm at 2.54 mm pitch, with a 3 mm channel for wires and six global variables driving the design.

    Onshape screenshot of the long version 0.0 lead screw A

  8. The bearing problem

    Connector AB needs a smooth bearing for lead screw B. A switch from the Dremel to a Prusa printer means every tolerance is retested. Roller bearings keep failing.

    CAD render of the purple version 0.0 AB connector halves Too much friction

  9. A safety flaw

    The anti-rotation wings on the connector poke through the outer shell, creating pinch points for fingers. Version 0.0 is retired.

    Retired

  10. Two screws, not one

    Mid-rebuild idea: run two parallel lead screws. The connectors cannot spin, the wings disappear, and wires pass through the center. This becomes version 0.2.

    CAD render of Reach version 0.2 showing only the right and left lead screws

  11. A slimmer connector

    Connector V2 comes out slimmer and lighter, and 3 mm steel bearing balls are ordered.

    CAD render of connector V2 with two threaded bores

  12. Stage two carries its own bearings

    Each stage-two lead screw gets its own bearing race and a cage for the steel balls. Stage three becomes a simple threaded tube, and the wires route through a 7.5 mm gap and an 8 mm channel.

    CAD render of the stage two right lead screw with its bearing cage at the base

  13. It spins freely

    Printed in PETG with five perimeters. With the steel balls in, Connector AB turns smoothly and holds lead screw B in place. The claw design begins.

    CAD render of both stage two lead screws seated in the AB connector Worked

  14. Version 0.2

    Handle, three telescoping stages and the claw come together in one model.

    Blue render of the complete version 0.2 grabber standing upright

  15. Pitch day

    Team SO-lutions presents Reach at Project Invent and wins the Product Pivot award.

    Award

  16. Version 0.3

    Refining the handle, the stage-two sleeves and stage three so Reach can go to residents at the senior living home.

What makes it work.

CAD render of the claw: orange four-bar linkages, grey gears and white Fin Ray fingers

A claw that closes straight

A four-bar linkage moves the fingers in a straight line, and Fin Ray fingers bend to wrap around whatever they hold.

CAD render of both stage two lead screws seated in the AB connector

Twin lead screws

Two threads per connector stop it from spinning and leave a channel in the middle for wires.

2.54 mm

Thread pitch

Four-start ACME threads, so each turn of a lead screw moves its stage 10.16 mm.

CAD render of the stage two right lead screw, its bearing cage and the outer race in the AB connector

3 mm

Steel bearing balls

The base of each stage-two lead screw is a bearing race. Balls in the cage roll against the outer race in the AB connector, so the screw spins freely but cannot pull out.

Printed to take a load

PETG, five perimeters, gyroid infill and organic supports, tuned after weeks of tolerance tests on two printers.

  • N20 gear motor
  • Joystick module
  • Motor controller
  • 6 V LiPo battery
  • Slip ring for the rotating claw

Pitched in May. Left with an award.

At Project Invent, Reach won the Product Pivot award. Watch the full pitch and the moment we found out.

Store reachers are one size, and they need a strong grip.

The usual reacher is a fixed-length stick with a trigger you squeeze hard. Reach adjusts its own length and closes with a button, so grip strength stops being the limit.

Illustration of a typical trigger-style reacher
Typical reacher
CAD render of Reach fully extended
Reach
Older adults in the US
57.8M
Assisted living communities in the US
36,000
US adults with a serious mobility disability
12.2%
Target price
$75

Sources: CDC, Disability Impacts All of Us; SeniorLiving.org statistics.

Next stop: the senior living home.

Version 0.3 is on the bench now. The goal is a Reach that residents at Mozaic Senior Life can actually use day to day, then a path to production.

Watch it extend
CAD render of Reach standing upright with its claw at the top