challenge
Making low-cost 3D-printed prosthetics for amputees
challenge
Making low-cost 3D-printed prosthetics for amputees
Approximately 185,000 amputations occur in the United States each year. Worldwide, that number increases exponentially. Traditional prosthetics and the therapy for the patient are often too expensive for some. Reducing costs of prosthetics by 3D printing limbs that are custom tailored to each patient could help distribute prosthetics to those previously unable to afford the care.
Touch Prosthetics seeks to make advanced prosthetic hands affordable and accessible to the amputees who need them by taking a low-cost approach to the design of robotic hands.
They build the hands by 3D printing according to the amputee's specific requirements. The system is modular and poses a significant cost reduction for prosthetics, reducing production costs by a factor of 10.