How Does $50 Grab You? From: Servo Magazine - 11/2014 - page 7 Prosthetic hands have been around for years, but the cost has been prohibitive for most people. RSLSteeper's bebionic3, for example, reportedly will run you between $25,000 and $35,000, and some units go for over $100,000. Thanks to the advent of 3D printing and a network of volunteers known as "E-Nabling the Future," or just "e-NABLE," functional robotic hands can now be generated with about $50 worth of materials, and you can even download the printer files for free from the e-NABLE website. The most widely adopted ones appear to be the Cyborg Beast and Talon Hand 2.0, but other designs include the three-fingered Odysseus Hand, the Second Degree Hand (for people with a functioning thumb but no fingers), the Owen Partial Finger Replacement, and even the Limbitless Arm which is e-NABLE's first myoelectric design. So, how well do they work? Pretty well, apparently. A YouTube video uploaded by 3DUniverse features 53 year old Jose Delgado, Jr., favorably comparing his new Beast hand to a $42,000 commercial unit, and another vid shows nine year old Shea Stollenwerk learning to operate her version. The concept is catching on so quickly that e-NABLE was able to put together its first "Prosthetists Meet Printers" Conference, which was held on September 28th at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital, To get involved with the project, send a donation, or just get more info, visit enablingthefuture.org. View the article (subscription required) at: http://servo.texterity.com/servo/201411/?sub_id=BHmR7PDhOyvzE#pg7 Links: RSLSteeper's bebionic3 http://bebionic.com/ 3DUniverse http://www.3duniverse.org Jose Delgado, Jr. Compares His $50 3D-Printed Hand to His $42,000 Myoelectric Prosthesis http://www.3duniverse.org/2014/04/19/jose-delgado-jr-compares-his-new-3d-printed-hand-to-his-more-expensive-myoelectric-prosthesis/ E-Nabling the Future http://enablingthefuture.org/ Cyborg Beast http://enablingthefuture.org/build-a-hand/current-design-files/cyborg-beast-hand/ http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:261462 http://enablingthefuture.org/upper-limb-prosthetics/cyborg-beast/ Cyborg Beast: A $50 3D Printed Prosthetic Hand (video 6:58) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm-SYMZ7_BU Talon Hand 2.0 http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:229620 http://enablingthefuture.org/build-a-hand/current-design-files/talon-hand-2-0/ http://enablingthefuture.org/upper-limb-prosthetics/talon-hand/ e-NABLE Talon Hand 2.0 - Tutorial Part 1 (video 41:24) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii_OYzhCcJg e-NABLE Talon Hand 2.0 - Tutorial Part 2 (video 44:35) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euwrdJRZ8TY e-NABLE Talon Hand 2.0 - Tutorial Part 3 (video 26:27) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyoGKtI4KHY Odysseus Hand http://enablingthefuture.org/upper-limb-prosthetics/odysseus-hand/ http://enablingthefuture.org/tag/odysseus-hand/ http://enablingthefuture.org/build-a-hand/current-design-files/the-odysseus-hand/ http://enablingthefuture.org/2014/03/04/a-hand-for-odysseus/ http://3dprint.com/tag/odysseus-hand/ Second Degree Hand http://enablingthefuture.org/upper-limb-prosthetics/second-degree/ Owen Partial Finger Replacement http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:157174 http://enablingthefuture.org/2014/08/07/giving-a-hand-up-with-partial-finger-replacement/ Limbitless Arm http://enablingthefuture.org/upper-limb-prosthetics/the-limbitless-arm/ http://enablingthefuture.org/2014/07/26/limbitless-6-year-old-gets-3d-printed-myoelectric-arm/ http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:408641 Prosthetists Meet Printers Conference http://enablingthefuture.org/prosthetists-meet-3d-printers-press-release/ http://enablingthefuture.org/2014/08/10/prosthetists-meet-3d-printers-e-nable-conference/