THE INQUIRER

The Future of Prosthet ics By Max Staples

After watching Star Wars as a kid, I was fascinated by the fact that one day I may be able to see, or even build, a prosthet ic limb like the one used by Luke Skywalker. Luke Skywalker 's robot ic hand is just as funct ional as his real hand: he can move each individual finger with precision and feel the objects he?s holding. When we examine today?s state-of-the-art prosthet ics there?s st ill nothing like it on the market . At tempts have been made to implement the ability to feel objects into prosthet ic technology, but that feature is far from becoming available to the consumer. That is not to say that we have not come a long way though. If we toss aside the unrealist ic expectat ion of Luke Skywalker ?s fict ional prosthet ic hand, we would see that the real-wor ld future of prosthet ics is just as fascinat ing. Although highly advanced prosthet ics have existed for years, one major barr ier for consumers has been pr ice. In the past , many individuals in need of a prosthet ic weren?t able to access one. That is, unt il about 2010. After 2010, there was a surge of popular ity as the 3D pr inter became more and more affordable to have at home. With this came a wave of br illiant engineers paving the way in all fields of engineer ing, including prosthet ics. ENABLE is a nonprofit organizat ion that works with underpr ivileged

communit ies and connects pat ients in need of a prosthet ic with an engineer that has 3D pr inter access. After contact is established, the engineer meets and learns what the pat ient needs in a prosthet ic limb and designs the prosthet ic. Finally the engineer pr ints a prosthet ic to the pat ient?s specificat ions and it?s ready for the pat ient?s use. The best part of the arrangement is that because of the low product ion cost , the engineers can afford to offer their services to the pat ient free of charge. The prosthet ics are cheap to produce but of high quality and durable. Although they do not involve electronic components, prosthet ics produced through ENABLEusually operate off of the mot ion of the users remaining joints. For example, if the wearer st ill has their wr ist , the engineers can use the mot ion in that wr ist to create a simple clenching mot ion with the prosthet ic.

WISRD 3D-Printed Prosthetic for E-NABLE

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