Open Hand Dextrus - palm prosthesis, which costs less than $ 1000

A typical palm prosthesis costs from £ 7,000 to £ 70,000 in the UK ($ 10,000 - $ 100,000). Expensive materials, the lack of mass demand, low competition, the need for individual fit of each product make a complete denture very expensive. That is why 3D printing for the manufacture of artificial limbs has great potential, according to the British robotics Joel Gibbard. A few hours ago, his crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo to create Dextrus, an open and accessible palm prosthesis, was successfully completed. Most of it is printed on a 3D printer. Dextrus has independent drives for each of the fingers, tactile feedback that allows you to automatically adjust the force of compression and is controlled by the bioelectric method, reading signals through the skin. At the same time, it will cost several dozen times cheaper than commercial analogues, and all specifications, models and drawings will be freely available.


The basis of the prosthesis is made up of parts made of ABS plastic, strong enough to perform most household operations. "Tendon" prosthesis of steel cables withstand the tension of up to 18 kilograms. In the palm of your hand, miniature electric drives and an Arduino-based control board are hidden. One battery charge lasts for 8-12 hours. The working surface of the fingers and palm is provided with an elastic non-slip coating. The prosthesis is standard for prostheses of this type of fastening. Dextrus has six degrees of freedom - two on the thumb and one for the rest.


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The availability of such a prosthesis can greatly improve the quality of life of patients who previously could afford only a hook. The problem of the high cost of high-grade prostheses is especially acute for children. They need to change dentures every couple of years to keep up with the growth of the child. Because of this, prosthetics can cost several times more.

Joel Gibbard hopes to reduce the cost of children's versions by a few more hundred dollars, possibly at the cost of some cuts in functionality. With an increase in the size of the prosthesis as it grows, you can add more and more functions, gradually bringing its capabilities to the adult model. Another advantage that 3D printing gives is that a prosthesis can be made attractive for a child, for example, by stylizing it under the arm of a superhero.


The layout of the children's version of Dextrus, stylized by the hand of Iron Man.

In the future, the inventor is going to make the prosthesis waterproof and hopes for the help of the developer community in equipping it with additional equipment and functions, such as the ability to work with a capacitive touchscreen of mobile devices. Since Joel's main specialty is robotics, and the entire Open Hand project has grown out of his student work, Dextrus can be used not only as a prosthesis, but also as a manipulator for robots. The special research version of Dextrus includes a set of spare parts and a docking station that will allow you to connect it to a computer.