April 21, 2014
Jose Delgado Jr. Jose, 53 year old, was born without most of his left hand and in the past year, he had been using a prosthetic hand that costs $42,000, which he paid about half out of pocket. This myoelectric version uses the muscle signals in his forearm to trigger the closing or opening of the fingers, like a real hand would.
In the past few years, many teams in the world are helping to transform the lives of those who have lost limbs. They made 3D printed prosthetic limbs for those who lost their arms or legs and helped to transform their lives.
Jose visited e-NABLE member Jeremy Simon and asked if he could help make a 3D printed prosthesis for him. Created by Jon Schull, a researcher at Rochester Institute of Technology, e-NABLE pairs children and adults with missing or deformed fingers, hands or forearms with makers who produce customized 3D printed prostheses that can improve their lives.
Jeremy used the design of the "Cyborg Beast" by Jorge Zuniga, an assistant professor of exercise science at Creighton University and printed a Cyborg Beast hand for Jose. "I wasn't expecting too much", said Jeremy. Jose works in an environment that involves a lot of lifting and moving of boxes, and the Cyborg Beast is made of ABS plastic (same material as legos), so Jeremy expected it wouldn't hold up for long.
But he was very curious to see the result. So Jeremy and Jose met up again to discuss how his current $42,000 myoelectric prosthetic compares to the $50 3D printed "Cyborg Beast" hand that Jeremy created for him.
Jose has been using multiple types of prosthetic devices for years, so he's very familiar with what can or can't be done with them in terms of day-to-day functionality. To his surprise, Jose said he actually prefers the 3D printed Cyborg Beast to his far more expensive myoelectric prosthesis.
Jose claims that the simple, mechanical design of Cyborg Beast is even more comfortable and provides more day-to-day functionality than the expensive version. And if a piece breaks, he could simply print a new one in a few hours.
A typical prosthetic hand from a company will run you more than $10,000, but materials for a 3D printed hand can cost less than $50. The design, research, development and prototyping time for these 3D printable limbs designs has been donated by many individuals in the e-NABLE community, a group of 700 people globally. The design is open source and thus no rights have had to be purchased to use or make them. Therefore it is possible to produce a partial hand for a cost of less than $50 as compared to a retail device with a price of thousands.
Jeremy says he is working with Jose on printing another new hand and this time using a material called Bridge nylon, which is stronger than the previous material and also light weighted. "I'll also be providing him with an alternate thumb mount that will enable a different kind of grip." Jeremy said.
According to Jeremy, there is already been active design efforts within the e-NABLE volunteer community to develop an elbow-actuated version and will be released soon as open source.
Jeremy posted a video in which Jose compares the $50 3D-printed hand to his $42,000 Myoelectric Prosthesis, watch below:
Below is a video of Jeremy assembling one for the first time. "I have no background in prosthetics or mechanical engineering, so if I can do this, anyone can. Of course, a prosthetist or other medical professional should always be involved when doing one of these for real, in order to ensure proper fit, check periodically for irritation, etc."
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
Maybe you also like:
- New photos of 10 'green' 3D-printed houses in Shanghai, built in 24 hours
- 3D printed swimsuit highlighted at Shanghai Fashion Week 2014
- Dutch students compete in Shell Eco-marathon 2014 with 3D printed car
- 3D printing chocolate bunny molds (video)
- 3D printed Radiolaria shaped lamps glow in the dark
- Imagine luggage is just a code. If you lost it, just 3D print a new one
- Researchers uses 3D printing to generate in-vitro 3D tumor models
- 3D printed NinjaFlex spikes over LED pixels
- Disney Star Wars D-Tech Me 3D prints fans into 16-inch Stormtroopers for $1500
- Google releases Project Ara developers kit, 3D printed modules coming early 2015
so cool guys! wanna be part of it but i have no legs damn
Andrew ryan wrote at 8/10/2017 4:40:30 AM:
How do I get in contact with someone that can do that for me missing hand just below the wrist
Criceliaf@gmail.com wrote at 6/1/2016 3:15:02 PM:
I was wondering if there is a hand that starts a little above the elbow? I know a little girl who was born with out the arm starting maybe an inch above the elbow. I can tell she is affected by the way she hides her arm in every photo. She is very strong and athletic girl. Her limb is also very strong. Do you think there i some thing I can do for her.
M.Daud Shah wechat id. 923068995499. wrote at 2/17/2016 8:12:32 AM:
Hi hope will fine you are lucky to have plenty of opportunities. I am 29 years heamophilic person & lost my left leg above knee & unable to move since 2012 due to hemophilia.leaving in backward area of Pakistan,kindly if you people guide me show the way to access to 3D artificial leg to make my life better.I shall be greatly oblige to you people.
packardsrac@hotmail.com wrote at 11/26/2015 12:18:13 AM:
Anybody printing 3 D Leg for PFFD or CFD patients?
3Ders.org provides the latest news about 3D printing technology and 3D printers. We are now seven years old and have around 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
