PSU student invents Bluetooth nail clippers

Kyle Dimick, a recent graduate of Plymouth State University who grew up in Thornton, was always taking things apart to learn how they work. But it took a ski jumping accident in 2018 that landed him in the hospital to spark his own invention.

“At some point during physical therapy for my shoulder I noticed people going to get their nails trimmed,” Dimick, 22, says. Just after his hospital stay, Dimick began creating a device to make cutting nails easier and safer with one hand. “I handed them out to people and once that took off and I got to Plymouth State I began to wonder if I could make an automatic nail clipper.”

With the help of marketing professor Brad Allen and Bret Kulakovich, who runs PSU’s Makerspace, Dimick created a prototype for his automatic nail clipper. He went on to capture the spotlight at the Plymouth State Panther Pitch, a competition akin to the popular TV show “Shark Tank.” His automatic nail clipper invention not only impressed the judges at PSU, but also earned him the coveted Howard Frederick Entrepreneurship Award and the People’s Choice Award. As a result, Dimick represented PSU at a national conference in New Orleans earlier this year.

In 2024, Dimick received the second-place prize in the Paul J. Holloway Innovation to Market Competition at the University of New Hampshire.

“I’ve had some interest from three investors so far,” Dimick says, adding that he’s still waiting for patent approval.

The automatic nail clipper device, dubbed the Trim-Able, is Bluetooth accessible by way of a phone app, 4 inches wide and 1 inch tall, and works on fingernails as well as toenails. And most importantly, Dimmick says, it’s safe. “Safety is huge,” he says, explaining the blade is recessed into the body and the device contains padding behind the blade. “I’m working on figuring out how to use AI to tell the difference between nail and skin.”

Dimick, who received his bachelor’s degree in business administration and a minor in pre-law last spring, plans to pursue an MBA at MIT Sloan School of Management and continue developing his entrepreneurial ventures. His ultimate goal, he says, is to create accessible technologies that will make a positive impact on the world.

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