3D printing gives child with disability ‘Iron Man’ prosthetic hand
20 Oct 2014
A kid with a rare disability of the hand has got a new prosthetic arm, courtesy Pat Starace, a New York-based, technology innovator.
Starace put 3D printing to good use to make the arm, a low cost solution to help the kid beat his disability.
Pat built the first model of the robotic hand from start to finish within a month.
He used the 3D Printer, 'Bukobot Vanilla V1' and software such as Maya and Solidworks to build the contraption.
A conventional prosthetic hand costs about $50,000 and thanks to the fact that kids outgrowth the aid in about a year, not many kids thus afflicted get to benefit from conventional technology.
But the 3D printed prosthetic hand costs under $50, and can be fabricated (customised to the user's hand & features) in a single day.
But it is not about the low price, rather it is the features of the low cost prosthetics that are truly amazing and empowering.
Not only is the hand painted in the Iron Man hand's colours, it works much like the arm of the superhero too.
According to Pat, the Iron Man had can incorporate sensors, microcontrollers, accelerometers, wireless devices, RFID, NFC and it can even function as a smart watch.
The prosthetic hand can also be voice-controlled, making the kid "the coolest kid" in school in no time.
The kid Keith Harris, who received this prosthetic hand was born with a deformed right hand, a rare condition called symbrachydactyly, which caused the fingers to fuse together, eliminating the abilities of his hand.
Harris received the prosthetic hand in an initiative by E-Nable Organization, which decided to give him a special hand 3D printed hand. Keith's mother said he had always felt uncomfortable about his hand as people often stared at it or even asked questions about it, much to his dislike.
When he received the 3D printed hand, Keith was quite nervous, but now he is having great fun with his new hand and perhaps the T-shirt he wears says it all, ''Ten fingers are overrated'' Keith's classmates think he is pretty cool now and the disability seems to be a thing of the past.
