With 3-D printer, Creighton prof creates affordable hands for kids

http://www.omaha.com/article/20140218/LIVEWELL01/140218806/1685#with-3-d-printer-creighton-prof-creates-affordable-hands-for-kids

By Katy Healey / World-Herald staff writer February 18, 2014



Zuniga downloaded a design for the hand and refined it. He makes the hand pieces with a 3-D printer. He has turned to his son, 4, for advice on what kids like. Now Zuniga uses various colors, including Creighton blue, to personalize each prosthetic.


At first it looks like bits of plastic, scattered across a table and resting in boxes.

When Jorge Zuniga pieces it together, it looks more like a prop from the set of a superhero movie, something Iron Man might slip on or a gadget for Bruce Wayne.

The mechanical hands, though, are for kids.

Every year, about 1,500 infants are born without fully formed arms in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They're missing palms or fingers or wrists that bend, so as they grow, they can't grip or grab or throw.

Zuniga hopes his work will someday help kids across the country for a fraction of the cost of a typical prosthetic.

FULL story at link.