Robohand Uses 3D Printing to Replace Lost DigitsJOHANNESBURG (AP) — Richard Van As, a South African carpenter, lost four fingers from his right hand to a circular saw two years ago.
He was unable to afford the tens of thousands of dollars to get a myoelectric hand, which detects a muscle’s electric impulses to activate an artificial limb.
“After my accident, I was in pain, but wouldn’t take painkillers. I barely slept, and the more pain I had the more ideas I got,” he told The Associated Press. “Sometimes you have to chop fingers off to start thinking.”
He decided to build his own hand. After seeing a video posted online of a mechanical hand made for a costume in a theater production, he reached out to its designer, Ivan Owen, in Seattle. [
Read more]
About
Fitting 3D printed hands and fingers to communities.
Web:
www.robohand.netBlog:
www.robohand.blogspot.comEmail: robohand417@gmail.com
Description
Robohand has been on an adventure to create 3D printed hands for children and adults who are born without them or lost them due to amputation.
Robohand has also launched it's "Robofinger" which is a replacement digit for the Tradesman to be able to get back to work. This fantastic mechanical hand would not have been possible without the aid of 3D printing. Thanks goes to MakerBot for donating Robohand the Replicator 2 where the design was refined and published on Thingiverse.
Richard had a tragic woodworking accident where he lost two full fingers and most of his other two fingers on his right hand. He is right handed.
When he came out of hospital he searched high and low for a prosthetic finger. All he could find were prosthetics at a cost of $10k. It is not a fully functioning finger in that it has no grip strength. Richard was determined to find a solution to his dilemma of becoming an instant lefty!
He started designing his own prototype finger but was struggling a bit with certain mechanics. He searched the web and found a guy in the USA who had made a mechanical hand for fun.
They got in touch via email and then via Skype. Richard has now developed a proper fully functioning prototype using bits from a mechano set and other items and he even broke a glass while using it!
Richard never wanted to make money from other people’s misery so the idea was never going to be patented. It is available “open source” for anyone who needs a finger.
Please contact robohand417@gmail.com for more information or to make a donation to this project. We are looking for funding to enable us to continue the research and development and to help the underprivileged who cannot afford to purchase a unit. [
Robohand Facebook]
Jul 23 2013, 05:09 PM
! thanks for the quick replies 
!
Quote
Not recommended to buy from the source, as the source stated as "2nd hand spare part & equipment".
0.0233sec
0.40
7 queries
GZIP Disabled