3D-Printed "Magic Arms"

Now that's a way more worthwhile use of 3d printing than the ar-15 parts. Very cool!
 
Stratasys is right here in the Twin Cities metro (Eden Prairie, to be exact). One of my buddies that I met in my MBA program is a Finance Manager there. From what he has told me, it's a great company, and it is doing extremely well (despite recently losing an HP contract).

Inventions like this are so awesome. Go technology!
 
Now that was awesome.

We need to hear more stories like this.
 
Travolta said:
Now that's a way more worthwhile use of 3d printing than the ar-15 parts. Very cool!
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bh192012 said:
Yeah but imagine what that girl could do if she also had AR-15 parts? Win-Win
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All it proves is that the same technology can be used to build a weapon that can kill can also help a little girl use her arms. It's like nuclear science. Nuclear weapons can level cities, while nuclear reactors can power them and just as nuclear fallout causes cancer, nuclear medicine can treat cancer.

Technology is neutral. It's what people choose to do with it that matters.
 
From a stand to a jacket, excellent. The banded apparatus on her arms are, over time, going to be proportionately smaller. Advances in design and materials will make the joints smaller and braces thinner. By the time she is an adult, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole apparatus can be manufactured thin enough, light enough, and strong enough to fit UNDER clothes.
 
That is just an unbelievable application of the technology. I hope its cost effective and becomes available to everyone in need.
 
I was just thinking how much of a ding is this to their medical bills. As much of a tear jerker this story can be from happiness for a great technology solution for the child I have to wonder how much crying is done on the bank account and insurance bills.
 
Turns out my father-in-laws' manufacturing companies - DuFresne Manufacturing and Envision Plastics & Design - actually make some of the components for those Stratasys printers.
 
BobSutan said:
Indeed. It's things like this that reminds me we're living in The Future.
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I think this is a fantastic story and use of the technology. But the part that make me think about The Future, is that this girl will grow up with a prosthetic exoskeleton as part of her.

It's a thing that she wears now, but it's becoming integral to her motor skill development. I have a child with some mechanical defects and they really don't affect his functioning much, it's mostly cosmetic (and maybe if he wants to play the guitar). For him, a few missing muscles and smaller bones is 'normal' and he can function fine that way. The biggest concern (as a parent) is how he will deal with the reactions of others.

For this child, an exoskeleton will be her 'normal'. The only thing that will be odd to her about it is that it will be a different normal from everyone else.

It's fantastic how much prosthetic technology has been advancing. I wonder how long it will be before prosthetics become the new normal. (similar to what we've seen with cosmetic surgery in some cultures)
 
calikool said:
I was just thinking how much of a ding is this to their medical bills. As much of a tear jerker this story can be from happiness for a great technology solution for the child I have to wonder how much crying is done on the bank account and insurance bills.
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That's the beauty, imagine if those arms were machined from metal. The story is technology is making this treatment affordable.
 
D'aaaawww... that's beyond awesome. I'm almost speechless. Just... wow, that's so cool.
 
Vaelin said:
I think this is a fantastic story and use of the technology. But the part that make me think about The Future, is that this girl will grow up with a prosthetic exoskeleton as part of her.

It's a thing that she wears now, but it's becoming integral to her motor skill development. I have a child with some mechanical defects and they really don't affect his functioning much, it's mostly cosmetic (and maybe if he wants to play the guitar). For him, a few missing muscles and smaller bones is 'normal' and he can function fine that way. The biggest concern (as a parent) is how he will deal with the reactions of others.

For this child, an exoskeleton will be her 'normal'. The only thing that will be odd to her about it is that it will be a different normal from everyone else.

It's fantastic how much prosthetic technology has been advancing. I wonder how long it will be before prosthetics become the new normal. (similar to what we've seen with cosmetic surgery in some cultures)
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Like someone above said, this is just going to get smaller and more discrete as we advance technology. Hopefully enough where she can conceal it under a hoodie without a second glance from most people.

Even if it's similar to it's current appearance now, it'll still be less jarring to a stranger than a fully amputated limb would be. So she won't have to worry about her state of normal being as weird to the general public. Besides, if she gets into comics and such, this may be in her future halloween ideas:
female-doctor-octopus.jpg
 
Awesome story.. can't wait to see her in 20 years and see how the technology progresses
 
This is why I'm an engineer. This is why I love to do what I do. This is reason engineering exists in that it strives to make peoples lives better. We are the unsung heroes and we never ask for any thanks nor do we care too because the work used in this way is thanks enough.
 
3d printers are going to be a household product within the next 10 years, you can already buy them at around $500 (solidoodle/portabee), for around 1k+ you can get a pretty nice industrial designed unit (felix/m2/sumpod big/cube3d. Here's a list of pretty much every printer out there http://www.3ders.org/pricecompare/3dprinters/.
I have my eyes set on the www.makibox.com printer, it melts cheap pellets rather than filament, and is probably the most compact/well designed/cheapest 3d printer i've ever seen.
 
Awesome, and a great watch. I think we definitely need more advancements like this.
 
calikool said:
I was just thinking how much of a ding is this to their medical bills. As much of a tear jerker this story can be from happiness for a great technology solution for the child I have to wonder how much crying is done on the bank account and insurance bills.
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Its likely the company is covering all/most of the costs in return for testing the designs and improvements for future customers, and of course the PR from videos such as that, and perhaps even some tax writeoffs.
 
Awesome... my niece has something similar, but not quiet that drastic, she's able to now move about, even run. Most doctors were pretty convinced she'd be in a wheel chair her whole life, ah but technology and modern open-minded thinking has been a good thing. Also the charitability of many folks (shriner's hostpitals especially) was without a doubt crucial, because this stuff isn't cheap. I'd be curious to find out how these parents afforded this actually.
 
calikool said:
I was just thinking how much of a ding is this to their medical bills. As much of a tear jerker this story can be from happiness for a great technology solution for the child I have to wonder how much crying is done on the bank account and insurance bills.
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I don't know the exact price of the specific printer they have, but having priced similar ones in similar sizes to what is shown in the video, and knowing what some prosthesis cost, 3d printing has GOT to be a major cost control on the process vs. the machining and molding and casting. The low end cost for a basic prosthesis that doesn't require novel engineering is around the $5000 point. The printer looks like it about the size of something in the $50-70k range. Just in the elimination of intermediary production steps and the associated salaries, you have to realize savings. Hell, with a growing child, to have functioning prosthetics to hit developmental marks, they could probably buy the printer and still shell out less than they'd pay for the traditional manufacturing process.

Doesn't mean they are passing all those savings onto the customer, but it shouldn't increase costs other than giving prosthesis to a child at a younger age.
 
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