You might think 3D printers are only good for making your own bootleg action figures, but there’s a far more practical use for them: building robotic limbs for kids who would otherwise have a pretty tough time of it.
That’s what a group called Robohand does. They use 3D printers to build the parts necessary to construct robotic fingers, hands and even arms for those without the natural equivalent.
While the tech for this stuff has existed for a while, it’s normally the domain of the very lucky and/or wealthy, since as you can imagine, robot limbs are expensive. Or, were expensive, because the whole idea of Robohand is that by building their own parts they can make the process “functional, safe and cost effective”.
Some of Robohand’s customers have been adults, but most have been kids, kids who now not only have a chance at a more hassle-free life, but are now 100% more badass while doing it.
Robohand[Site, via Super Punch]
Comments
6 responses to “Science Is Turning Disabled Kids Into Awesome Cyborgs”
I saw this on a program the other night. The guy was saying normally this father who printed one up would have to pay around 20k for a hand for his son but by printing one, it ended up costing around 200 bucks (plus the cost of the printer, around 2000 or so I think?) ended up being a sound investment as they can modify the plans as needed as the boy grows, print further limb requirements etc. Was very impressive. So happy to see this sort of thing happening. Limb replacement can be a very expensive industry and if this can bring inexpensive devices to the less fortunate at a much faster rate, then I am all for it.
Well said Smurf.
Agreed!
Agreed. This is the perfect example of where 3D printing makes absolute sense, as you can make taylor made parts. And cheap replacement bits and all the rest of the good stuff you mentioned. Biomed applications are one of the most exciting areas for 3D printing I think.
Is it just me, or does the kid in the top pic look like that kid who was in The Witches? Bruno. The first one to get turned in to a mouse.
this almost makes me want to join the army and get my hand blown off 🙂