3D Surprise: Girl Missing Part of Arm Gifted a Prosthetic
From: Medical Design Technology - 06/05/2015

When 10-year-old Annika Emmert patted Winter the dolphin's smooth back at the
Clearwater Marine Aquarium on Thursday, she thought that was the best part of
her morning. She was wrong.

Cozi Zuehlsdorff, the actress who starred with Winter in the "Dolphin Tale"
movies, set a cooler next to Annika. The girl opened it, thinking it was
dolphin food.

"I was really surprised," said Annika, whose eyes welled with tears when she
saw what was inside. "I was like, that doesn't look like fish."

Instead, Annika — who was born without part of her right arm — was shocked to
see a custom-made prosthetic limb, decorated with bright flowers. A bionic
limb, if you will, that's controlled by Annika's muscles and electrodes.

The most remarkable part: The limb was created using 3-D printing technology.

Limbitless Solutions, an Orlando-based nonprofit run and staffed by
University of Central Florida engineering students, made the limb. The
group's mission is to "print" prosthetic limbs for children and to encourage
other companies and nonprofits to use the technology by providing the plans
and software.

Printing Annika's arm took about 40 hours. Each piece is modular: When Annika
grows, she'll get upgrades in the form of larger parts.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.mdtmag.com/news/2015/06/3d-surprise-girl-missing-part-arm-gifted-prosthetic

Link:
Limbitless Solutions
http://www.limbitless-solutions.org/