We already know that 3D printers are cool, they’ve been put to use for imaginative purposes that we didn’t even think of before there were 3D printers and that trend is showing no sign of slowing down. 3D printing really is the next big thing and as prices for the hardware comes down, and the ease of use improves over time, it shouldn’t be long before we are all purchasing a 3D printer.
Paul McCarthy’s son was born without fingers and a real prosthetic could cost around $10,000 and perhaps many times more than that! McCarthy was looking for a functional prosthetic hand for his son Leon when he found an online video from Ivan Owen, an inventor from Washington State.
Ivan created a 3D printed prosthetic hand that anyone could make, McCarthy spent around $2000 on the printer, and around $10 on materials, printed the model and now his son has a working hand and likes to think of himself as a Cyborg.
Not only does the hand work, it also looks really cool and I love the idea that he can customise it over time by printing a different finger or attachment for different tasks and it would only cost him a few dollars.
We also have a lot of respect for Ivan Owen for not placing a patent on such an important design and allowing others to use them on their own 3D printers.
Thank you MSN for providing us with this information.
Image courtesy of CBS.
Good Guy Ivan Owen! I salute you for your selflessness. Patenting something that could save lives and make other people’s life better is just selfish.
Its not really “saving” lives but rather improving their quality of life 😉
“Something like”, I mean like a great inventions in the near future that could save lives (like a vaccine for cancer, aids, etc, etc.. Just clarifying that I didn’t say that it’s just about the subject here(prosthetics) that could save lives.
Anyone else thinking inspector gadget when they saw he can get new attachments?
Thank you Ivan and thank you God for not letting Apple latch onto this.