The Shriner's Hospital in Houston, Texas, USA
E-nable Hands.
This unique partnership allows Shriners patients to build their own mechanical hands.
Rice University bioengineering students, staff and faculty teamed up with Marvel Universe LIVE! and Houston’s Shriners Hospitals for Children this week to offer both a free mechanical hand and a once-in-a-lifetime experience to the families of eight Shriners patients who lack all or part of one hand.
Photos by Jeff Fitlow, video by Brandon Martin
Working as a team, volunteers from Rice and the global online community e-NABLE joined performers from the Marvel Universe LIVE! show to help the patients and their families build mechanical hands out of plastic parts that were made on 3-D printers at Rice.
“E-NABLE is a wonderful and inspiring online group of about 3,600 volunteers that I found out about through the 3-D maker community,” said Jordan Miller, assistant professor of bioengineering. “E-NABLE community volunteers create open-source designs for mechanical hand assistive devices that can be freely downloaded and 3-D-printed for less than $50 in materials.”
A typical prosthetic hand can cost $4,000 or more, and young patients typically outgrow several of them during childhood. -
See more at: news.rice.edu/2015/02/05/rice-bioengineers-use-3-d-printe...
The Shriner's Hospital in Houston, Texas, USA
E-nable Hands.
This unique partnership allows Shriners patients to build their own mechanical hands.
Rice University bioengineering students, staff and faculty teamed up with Marvel Universe LIVE! and Houston’s Shriners Hospitals for Children this week to offer both a free mechanical hand and a once-in-a-lifetime experience to the families of eight Shriners patients who lack all or part of one hand.
Photos by Jeff Fitlow, video by Brandon Martin
Working as a team, volunteers from Rice and the global online community e-NABLE joined performers from the Marvel Universe LIVE! show to help the patients and their families build mechanical hands out of plastic parts that were made on 3-D printers at Rice.
“E-NABLE is a wonderful and inspiring online group of about 3,600 volunteers that I found out about through the 3-D maker community,” said Jordan Miller, assistant professor of bioengineering. “E-NABLE community volunteers create open-source designs for mechanical hand assistive devices that can be freely downloaded and 3-D-printed for less than $50 in materials.”
A typical prosthetic hand can cost $4,000 or more, and young patients typically outgrow several of them during childhood. -
See more at: news.rice.edu/2015/02/05/rice-bioengineers-use-3-d-printe...