# Lifestyles & Discussion > Science & Technology >  How does a $50 3D-printed hand match up to $42G prosthetic?

## Suzanimal

These printers are so cool. 





> Jose Delgado, Jr., 53, was born without most of his left hand and has been using prosthetic devices for decades. His current device, a myoelectric prosthesis, is valued at around $42,000.
> 
> Due to the high cost of prosthetics, groups like e-NABLE, comprised of a global community of volunteers, have been formed with the goal of providing free 3D-printed devices and parts for people in need.
> 
> *Jeremy Simon, an e-NABLE volunteer and founder of 3D Universe, had an idea: make a 3D-printed mechanical hand using $50 worth of materials and see how it compares to the $42,000 prosthetic. The results were shocking.
> 
> "Certainly we're not making an apples to apples comparison -- these are entirely different kinds of devices -- but the comparison I was trying to draw with Jose was strictly in terms of day-to-day functionality what's more useful," Simon told FoxNews.com. "It turned out [the 3D-printed] one was."
> 
> Delgado Jr., who tested the device, told Simon the grip of the 3D-printed hand made it more functional in many cases than the more expensive prosthetic.*
> ...

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## donnay

I think this technology is awesome.

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## tod evans

Cool!

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## fisharmor

$42,000 should buy you the printer, enough materials to make a half dozen different prosthesis...

....and all the 3D printed guns it's going to take to keep you out of prison for practicing medicine without a license.

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## kcchiefs6465

..

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## Suzanimal

Wow, pretty soon we'll be able to just 3D print a whole new body and live forever.




> 3D Printed Device Detoxifies Blood Like a Liver
> 
> Okay, it doesn’t look like a liver, but this new 3D printed device can detoxify the blood like one. While it’s just a proof-of-concept, nanoengineers hope the liver-inspired device can be used like a dialysis one day. 
> 
> Animal bites, stings, and bacterial infections can leave behind toxins in the blood that form pores and damage cellular membranes. Previous work has shown how nanoparticles can neutralize these pore-forming toxins -- but they end up accumulating in the liver. That could to lead secondary poisoning, which pretty much defeats the whole point. 
> 
> This new device uses nanoparticles to trap those toxins, preventing any illnesses that may result. But to make these nanoparticles more digestible, the team led by Maling Gou and Shaochen Chen of the University of California, San Diego, created a 3D-printed hydrogel matrix to house them. The result is a device that mimics the liver’s function by first sensing, then attracting and capturing toxins routed from the blood. Like a dialysis, it's designed to be used outside the body. It’s large surface area is specifically designed to trap toxins within itself, turning red as it captures them. 
> 
> The biofabrication technology used is called dynamic optical projection stereolithography, and it uses a projection system and tiny mirrors to shine a light on photosensitive biopolymers and cells in a solution. This forms one solid layer at a time, continuously. Its resolution is at the nanoscale -- useful for producing blood vessels and other tiny, detailed structures. 
> ...

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## Origanalist

> $42,000 should buy you the printer, enough materials to make a half dozen different prosthesis...
> 
> ....and all the 3D printed guns it's going to take to keep you out of prison for practicing medicine without a license.


You beat me to it. You can't help anybody unless and until government says you can.

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## pcosmar

This goes here.

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## willwash

Cue the intellectual property nazis saying you can't do that.

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## Suzanimal

Amazing...




> *Volunteers use 3D printers to create inexpensive prosthetics*
> 
> An online organization of more than 1,500 volunteers is using 3D printers to produce prosthetic hands or fingers for people around the world who need them.
> 
> This Sunday, the group, called e-NABLE, will come together at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to further their goals of designing, printing and distributing their inexpensive plastic prostheses, in advance of an upcoming U.S. Food and Drug Administration public forum on 3D printing of medical devices.
> 
> e-NABLE founder Jon Schull, a research scientist at New York's Rochester Institute of Technology's Center for MAGIC (Media, Arts, Games, Innovation and Creativity), said the group’s prostheses are made of tough plastics and cost little to make or repair.
> 
> "Traditional prosthetics can cost more than $40,000, and our hands have been favorably compared to them," Schull told Reuters Health. "We live in a world where the standard offerings are extraordinarily expensive. In contrast, we are harnessing the power of thousands of volunteers and giving them away."
> ...

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## Suzanimal

3-D Printing Is Changing the Future of Prosthetics




> Thanks to 3-D printing, a lifetime of prosthetics will cost less than one commercially made device.
> 
> Soon enough, anyone with a 3-D printer will be able to build custom prosthetics. No longer will these devices—traditionally created by a doctor—cost thousands of dollars, removing the financial burden families face when members (especially children) may need multiple each year. 
> 
> Two companies, e-NABLE and Not Impossible Lab’s Project Daniel, are changing the accessibility of prosthetics for growing children. Both e-NABLE and Not Impossible Labs use open source for designs, meaning anyone with access to a 3D printer and materials can customize and print the design plans. By creating technology for social good, the organizations are opening doors to people who would not be able to obtain prosthetics otherwise.
> 
> E-NABLE began in May 2013 with one prosthetic hand design and 70 volunteers. Now, with the help of over 3,000 medical professionals, teachers, engineers, and students, e-NABLE creates colorful and lightweight 3-D printed prosthetic hands for no cost to those in need. With designs named “The Raptor Hand,” “The Cyborg Beast” and “The Odysseus Hand,” kids feel like superheroes and are proud of their prosthetics. Each hand costs just 50 dollars in materials.
> 
> “Our volunteers donate their time, materials, and use of their 3-D printers to create them,” Jen Owen, a member of e-NABLE, said. “If a parent wanted to purchase a 3-D printer of their own and produce hands for their own child, the cost of the printer and the materials to make the hands for their child for the next 10 years would be less than the cost of the creation of one commercially made prosthetic device.”
> ...

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## Suzanimal

> Using 3D printed prosthetics, Derby the dog can now walk and run for the first time in his life.
> 
> He was born with small forearms and no front paws like a furry little T-Rex, and he could only move around on soft surfaces as a result of the deformity.
> 
> So 3D Systems created some new legs for him using a 3D scanner and a multi-material 3D printer that could build both the sturdy base and comfortable rubber cups.
> 
> “He runs with Sherri and I every day, at least two to three miles,” said his owner Dom Portanova. “When I saw him sprinting like that on his new legs it was just amazing.
> 
> http://icanhas.cheezburger.com/dogs/share/67216641

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## muh_roads

> *If e-NABLE were to begin selling their hands or make them more complex, they would need to get FDA approvals.*


Yeah I was going to say the reason why it costs $42K is because of the ridiculous medical device licensing imposed on the equipment that makes the prosthetics.

FDA can $#@! off.  Eventually open-source instructions for making just about anything with a 3D printer will be available online.

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## Suzanimal

> Woman Successfully Has Skull Removed and Replaced with 3D Printed Implant
> 
> For anyone that hasn’t seen the process demonstrated right in front of them, 3D printing is still something that sounds relatively futuristic.
> 
> But 3D printing is beginning to usher in a new era, one that recently led a team of surgeons to remove the top section of a woman’s skull and replace it with a 3D printed implant.
> 
> Made specifically for the patient, this implant was created using an unspecified type of tough plastic.
> 
> The team of surgeons, led by Dr. Bon Verweij at the University Medical Center in Utrecht, took a 22-year-old woman from the Netherlands who suffers from a chronic bone disorder and performed an operation that saved her from significant brain damage or even worse, death.
> ...

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## Suzanimal

3-D Printers Can Make Amazing Things, Here Are 20 Products That Blew Our Minds




> 3-D printers are amazing things. Surprisingly, the first 3-D printer was invented over 30 years ago, and technology has made huge leaps forward since then. While most people may think of 3-D printers as gimmicky, printing only toys and novelty items, these printers can do so much more. 3-D printers are on the verge of saving lives, halting world hunger, manufacturing eco-friendly clothes and cars...and of course, a few fun items, too. Check out the 20 amazing printables below. If these don't make you optimistic for the future, nothing will.  
> 
> 1.) Fetuses (I'm not including that pic, it's just creepy looking. Go to link if you want to see it, ya weirdo.)
> A Japanese company will print a 3D model of your fetus after an ultrasound for 100,000 yen, which is a little over $840 in American currency. Because, why not?
> 
> 2.) Guns
> 
> 
> 
> ...


http://scien.viralnova.com/3d-printer/?mb=4pages

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## Suzanimal

> William Root's "Exo-Prosthetic" is a 3D printed artificial leg made from laser-sintered titanium, which uses a 3D scan of the wearer's truncated limb for fit, and a 3D scan of the intact limb for form.
> 
> Root says his process produces a cheaper, more durable, more functional, more comfortable product than the traditional model. The lacy, minimal-materials 3D printed form produces something strong but light.


http://boingboing.net/2014/12/28/3d-...hetic-leg.html

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## Suzanimal

Now I want a hermit crab.




> These hermit crabs wear 3D printed miniatures of the world on their backs
> 
> The hermit crabs wearing shelters imitating the architecture of various countries. Though the body of the hermit crab is the same, according to the shell it is wearing, its appearance changes completely. It’s as if they were asking, “Who are you?”
> 
> Honfleur France
> 
> 
> Aït-Ben-Haddou, Marocco
> 
> ...

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## Suzanimal

> This boy didn't have to be from a galaxy far, far away to become the coolest stormtrooper around.
> 
> Liam Porter of Augusta, Georgia, who was born without part of his left arm, received a big surprise last Saturday, the Augusta Chronicle reported. The 7-year-old "Star Wars" fan was brought to a room in his local movie theatre by people dressed up as Imperial Stormtrooper characters, and presented with a new prosthetic arm. What's more, the limb was created with a 3-D printer, and made to look like a stormtrooper arm.
> 
> "That’s something he is going to remember for the rest of his life," Bob Richards, Liam's grandfather, told the Augusta Chronicle of the moment the surprise was unveiled.
> 
> The arm was created by John Peterson, a member of the e-NABLE charity -- an organization that aims to make 3-D printers accessible to those who may not be able to afford them, the outlet reported. While a prosthetic normally costs thousands of dollars, $300 went into making Liam's arm, which is able to grip objects and could be adjusted according to the 7-year-old's growth.
> 
> It's technology that could mean improvements for Liam's daily life.
> ...


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...ushpmg00000063

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## Suzanimal

I bet e-NABLE could do it a lot cheaper.




> It's a heartwarming video out of Birmingham, England.
> 
> In the video shot and shared by the BBC's "Midlands Today", a little girl named Anu, 7, sporting a bright yellow dress and a brand-new, bright pink prosthetic "sports blade," is greeted by her classmates with hugs and smiles on the school playground.
> 
> "It makes me run faster," Anu told "Midlands Today."
> 
> Calling it her "pink leg," Anu said the new blade also helped her "street dancing" and helped make recess at school much more enjoyable.
> 
> Professor describes the 'comedy of errors' of his children crashing BBC interview
> ...


http://abcnews.go.com/International/...ry?id=47208467

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## Suzanimal

> This 7-Year-Old Girl Is Pitching at the World Series With a 3D Printed Hand
> 
> On Saturday, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros will meet for Game 4 of the World Series. As with any Major League Baseball game, the competition will kick off with a ceremonial pitch. But this one will be especially awe-worthy, featuring a 7-year-old girl with a 3D-printed hand.
> 
> Hailey Dawson will fling the first baseball using a prosthetic hand that allows her to grip objects despite missing and underdeveloped fingers on her right side. When the invitation came in last month, “I started crying,” recalls Hailey’s mother Yong Dawson in an interview with CBS News. Hailey was born without a pectoral muscle on the right side, in a rare condition known as Poland syndrome. The resulting lack of blood flow to her arm meant that her right hand didn’t fully develop—she’s missing three fingers and has an underdeveloped thumb and pinky on her right hand. While she can do lots of things with her left hand, some things really take two.
> 
> At age 4, Hailey’s doctors told her parents that prosthetics just aren’t feasible for a child who will quickly outgrow them. Despite this, Hailey can now ride a bicycle and play in her hometown tee-ball league. Her 3D-printed hand has changed not only Hailey’s quality of life but how scientists are thinking about flexible, accessible, comfortable robotic hands.
> “There are some really great robotic hands out there, but they’re very expensive,” Brendan O’Toole, chair of the mechanical engineering department at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, tells The Daily Beast. Hailey’s mother reached out to O’Toole after hearing about Robohand, a simple 3D-printed prosthetic with open-source design files. Theoretically, you can simply download, hit print, and have your own Robohand in a matter of hours. What Yong needed to find, she figured, was someone with access to a 3D printer.
> A traditional prosthesis runs about $20,000, and Hailey would outgrow it in half a year. Hailey’s first hand was initially funded through grant for a summer research project by a couple of UNLV students. They adapted various open-source designs, particularly one called Flexy Hand 2, for her device.
> ...


https://www.thedailybeast.com/this-7...d-printed-hand

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