3D printed prosthetics are becoming a great boon for all those who are born with physical imperfections or have lost their body parts because of some fatal accident. These prosthetics are cheap and are custom made. So no more adjusting, the adjustment that is to be made will be done by the prosthetic hand since its custom made i.e. it is made according to the requirements of the patient.
There are many organizations that are on their mission to enable the differently- abled people with the help of these 3D printed prosthetics. One such organization is e-NABLE, which gave a little boy named Odysseus, in Greece a 3D printed prosthetic hand. This prosthetic is quite different from the prosthetics that have been produced by the organization till now. Odysseus who was born without a palm and fingers on his left hand, the major challenge in this was that Odysseus’s wrist had no movement. For the prosthetic to work the minimal movement of the wrist is required in order to flex the fingers. Since Odysseus’s wrist was non-functional, for the starters the team decided to make a prosthetic with two fingers and one thumb. Bending of two fingers requires less tension which would thus allow Odysseus’s weak wrist to control and bend the fingers. The team hopes to give Odysseus a five finger hand after he has gained control on the device and also has rejuvenated the muscles of his wrist which have become atrophied, and no longer function correctly due to lack of usage.
This has undoubtedly opened up a lot of new doors in Odysseus’s life and many others who have a similar problem.
Image credit: http://enablingthefuture.org & http://www.thingiverse.com/profbink/designs