3D Printing and Deployment of Upper-Limb Prosthesis in Developing Countries

A $112,000 CAD grant to the University of Victoria in British Columbia will exploit the potential of 3D printing, producing fully functional artificial hand prostheses for amputees in Guatemala for just $200 each, including material and fabrication costs. The project is based on a prosthesis design developed 15 years ago by innovator Nikolai Dechev, which recently became financially viable with the advent of high-quality, inexpensive 3D printers. Presently, state-of-the-art, functional artificial hands cost $12,000 (for basic models) to $70,000 (for the most technically advanced models).  In this work, body-powered (cable-driven) prostheses of similar functionality can now be 3D printed in plastic in 20 hours. Tests will be conducted next summer at a clinic in Guatemala with a small number of existing artificial hand users before being expanded by the end of 2015 to a larger group of amputees inexperienced with the appliance.