Until recently, children with upper limb differences had few affordable prosthetic options because the conventional fabrication approaches are often too expensive and time-consuming for children who quickly outgrow them. The e-NABLE community uses open source research and design, crowd-sourced fabrication, and mass-customisation to produce prosthetics for children and adults.
"We think the e-NABLE community's products and practices are a potential model for other ventures that can inspire digital humanitarians to use emerging technologies to develop innovative solutions for underserved populations," said Jon Schull, research scientist at Rochester Institute of Technology. "Google.org has challenged us to test that idea, and given us the resources to do it, even as we continue to serve volunteers and recipients."
e-NABLE has produced hundreds of 3D printed prosthetic hands and continues to innovate low cost 3D printed prostheses.
The e-NABLE Community Foundation will use the funding for research and development through strategic partnerships, global design challenges, and to develop free and open source self-service software such as Handomatic to develop its prosthetic solutions.
