Our Seattle 3D printing company has explored many advances in 3D printed medical prosthetics, though many of these have been 3D printed bones and teeth. Of course, the potential of 3D printing in the medical field is hardly limited to rigid structures. As is currently being demonstrated by the UK-based mechanical design consulting company Gyrobot Limited, 3D printing technology can offer sophisticated and affordable prosthetic solutions to people who are missing something as complex as a hand.
Gyrobot’s hand started with a scan of the recipient’s limb. They then printed out a skeleton-like structure to build the “flesh” of the prosthetic around. Strong but yielding, the final product replicates a real human hand fairly closely in both feel and appearance. A series of joints appears in the usual places along each finger, which are each connected to a 3D printed filament that allows for some simple gripping actions. This hand is truly a strong testament to the power of 3D printing to improve people’s lives, and the emergence of new materials and methods in the 3D printing industry promises to bring even more life-like and functional prosthetics in the near future.
