Lending a hand

[Maik]

Back in March, the e-NABLE group got a request for a hand for a little boy from Greece, named Odysseus. He has no fingers on his left hand and his wrist didn’t have enough function to power one of the full five fingered hand designs that we have available…and instead of simply telling his Mom that we couldn’t help – one of our main designers (Peter Binkley who designed the Talon Hand) decided to make him a hand with only two fingers and a thumb as a “Starter hand”  which is now named the “Ody Hand” for obvious reasons!

After a few months of designing and re-working the design, Peter shipped the hand across the ocean to Ody – who is now testing it out and practicing with it to see if he can increase the motion in his wrist and eventually “Graduate” to a full 5 finger design!

The hope is that as Ody gets to practicing with his new hand and using his wrist more – he will also gain more movement and strengthen those muscles so that he can have the power in his wrist needed to open and close the Talon hand design!

http://enablingthefuture.org/2014/05/29/odys-new-hand/

This blog is dedicated to following the growth of the “3d Mechanical Hand – Maker Movement” that was inspired by two strangers (a prop maker from the USA and a carpenter from South Africa) that came together from 10,000 miles apart – to create a prosthetic hand device for a small child in South Africa …and then gave the plans away – for free…so that those in need of the device could make them for themselves or have someone make it for them.

What originally started out as a couple of guys who created something to help one child in need…has grown into a World wide movement of tinkerers, engineers, 3D print enthusiasts, occupational therapists, university professors, designers, parents, families, artists, students, teachers and people who just want to make a difference. Come join us!

http://enablingthefuture.org/