Robotic/prosthetic hands for everyone

Following a previous discussion on Joel Gibbard’s victory of the Dyson Award with his 3D-printed prosthetic hand, this week we are looking more closely at Open Bionics and some of its successful applications.

Limbs are often taken for granted until one is missing. We walk, we run, we jump, we grab things, we hug, we write, we text until the lack of a leg or an arm makes these activities impossible or extremely complex objectives.
Many people turn to prosthetic limbs to gain, at least partially, the functionality of the lost limb. They consist of several parts: a socket, a pylon (the “skeleton”) and a suspension system which keeps the prosthesis attached to the limb.
Prosthesis should be light-weighed and comfortable: indeed, they are personalised for the patient’s needs. Some can be covered with a skin-like colour to resemble the patient’ skin tone. Carbon fibre is the main element used in prosthetic limbs but plastic, titanium and aluminium are utilized as well.

Joel Gibbard, founder of Open Bionics, found a way to scan and print a prosthetic hand in 3D. While it is true that robotic hands had already been 3D-printed before, Joel combined this innovative technology, which operates through muscle signals, with a surprisingly affordable price.

Joel’s idea was born by a very simple thought he had while he was 17 and was thinking about his next school project, as he states on businesszone:

“I wouldn’t be able to pick up a soldering iron, I wouldn’t be able to use tools and so I thought I’d make a robot hand first should that problem ever arise”.

So, his journey started and he built a fully functioning model a few years later. After graduating, he launched the Open Hand Project, funded through the crowdfunding platform Indegogo. From the project, Open Bionics was founded. Open Bionics, based in Bristol (UK) has a rather small and young team that proves to be very competent and enthusiastic about their job, or rather mission. Olly McBride, 21, the programmer, affirms on the company’s website that seeing how happy their volunteers-subjects were was the most rewarding part because the 3D-printed hand “is not just a product that people buy for a bit of fun and then get bored of, this product will play a major part in their lives”.

His first volunteer-subject was Daniel, 23, who was born without his right hand. In 20 minutes, Joel scanned and took measurement of his right arm and created a custom-fitted arm for the young man in 40 hours. Daniel was deeply impressed by the feeling and the easiness to move his new hand, which feels like a glove. Here is the video of the test.

The printing of the socket took about 40 hours, reducing considerably the time, and consequently the costs, of prosthesis-building. Indeed, Joel’s solution aims to be relatively low-cost: between £1 000 and £2 000 per hand. However, this price does not reflect Joel’s hope to reduce costs to £670 per hand ($ 1 000). His goal is to make these 3D-printed prosthetic hands available to everyone (also financially speaking) and yet still suitable for every person’s needs. For example, special designs (such as Iron Man) are available for children’s models. Or again, Grace Mandeville has Swarovski crystals on her arm.

The hands are connected with the muscles signals. Interestingly, Grace’s model, printed in 3 days, is connected and controlled directly by her back muscle signals.

Joel’s latest model weights half the other current robotic prosthetics and is much more effective and resistant: it allows the patient to pick up heavy weights but also handle small objects. Open Bionics aims at selling these models on the market in 2016.

Joel reveals that they are also working on making the robotic hand wireless so that it becomes one thing with the residual limb and it is easy-to-use.

Robotic/prosthetic hands for everyone

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