Meet Liam.
He was nearly 5 years old when his Mother contacted us in November of 2012, through our Facebook page. Liam was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome, which means he has no fingers on his right hand as they were “strangled” by the amniotic bands in the womb so his limbs could not grow.From the concept of the Robofinger, Ivan and Richard put their thinking caps on to create a fully functioning mechanical hand. Ivan came to South Africa with the first prototype hand and Liam was fitted with the hand in late November 2012.
Once the Makerbot’s were donated we went through several iterations of “test” hands and created something that is easy to upgrade as the child grows.
Liam now has a fully functioning mechanical hand printed in ABS plastic that is biodegradable.
This was a very exciting time for Robohand and a breakthrough in technology. Also a world first for children.
After spending the day with Liam, Richard noticed that he favoured his right hand with no fingers, so Richard made Liam a “penhand” to see if you could write with his “small” hand. This turned out to be triumphant as Liam is actually right handed.
