I know this is really girly and probably super cheesy but I cried when I watched this video put together by Not Impossible Labs dedicated to Rich. As the wife who has been on this journey with Rich since he cut off his fingers, and being personally and emotionally invested in Rich and Robohand, it is quite scary when some one else puts something like this together and shows you how far your journey really has come.

I think people forget that Robohand is a Not For Profit organisation and that we do this in our spare time. We are not a massive organisation with many employees and an endless bank account. We are two individuals with a vision to enable the world. We now have a third member Leonard, who is handling all our communications, media, and the business side of Robohand. Plus he still jumps in and makes hands when he can. He attends all the events when time allows and interacts with people where Rich is bombarded and there is not enough of him to go around.

We do not have a Web design team that handles our Website, Facebook and Twitter accounts. We do not have an admin clerk that handles all 7 email accounts of hundreds of queries we get everyday. This is done by Rich and myself. In our spare time. We have friends like those at Pixel Magic who gave us guidance by redesigning our website and making it easier for me to manage, Schalk Heunis from House4Hack who donates his time to help out at Robohand HQ, my sister who translates for us and sits on our committee to keep us centred.

When I look back over the passed months and I watch a video like this one put together by Not Impossible Labs, I cannot believe how much we have achieved in such a short amount of time – and that in our spare time too!

We rely solely on donations from the public. The kits that we put together and send all over the world, are charged for but cover material costs only. Everything else comes out of our back pocket or from the public’s generous donations. We do not get paid for the time that we spend making hands for people or educating the public on how to make hands.

When we were approached to open a Robohand office in the USA and Australia we realised that there are very passionate people all over the world who want to contribute in some way. Unfortunately everyone needs to earn a salary to be able to live and give back to their communities. It is for that reason that both our International offices charge for their time as well as their material. This is their full time job. It takes approximately 10 hours to fit a Robohand to an individual. This excludes the 5 hour print time for the parts of the Robohand. Each fitting is customised and very personal. It’s almost like going to the doctor’s office. And going forward Rich will be charging for his time too.

I am going to put it out there now. Robohand will charge US$2000.00 for a customized fitted Robohand. Whether it be in person or via a long distance collaboration. This is very cheap considering Robohand is not mass produced.

The design and files are free and available for download from the internet. We are happy for people to make their own Robohands. Collaborate with your school, University, Friends and Colleagues to help someone in your community. Purchase a Robobeast printer which has all the design files already on it and enable people in your community. Upload your pictures and your stories to our Facebook page. Spread the news and engage with people who have upper limb differences. Or contact one of our offices, have an assessment done and Robohand will create your medically safe Robohand for you.

My heart bleeds for the thousands of amputees all over the world and I wish that I could wave my magic wand and they could all have Robohands for free. Unfortunately this is not the reality we live in. Each person that comes through our doors walks a journey with us and us with them.  When I see the smiling faces frozen in time on a photograph or video, it makes my heart smile wider than I thought possible. When I think about the dreams of people who have received Robohands being realised, I get a funny feeling in my stomach and it makes me glow with happiness.

From the beginning Robohand has been about enabling. Not Impossible Labs took that to the next level with Project Daniel when they went to the Sudan. I get goose bumps when I think about the amazing things that are happening there and how many people will be enabled due to their generosity.

Take your future into your own hands. Go and ENABLE!

A few months ago, CAD House donated a Cubify 3D printer to Robohand to assist with building our print farm.

Today, after Robohand had a meeting with Bernard, the owner of CAD House, he graciously gifted Robohand a scanner and sculpting software. This is a great enhancement tool for Robohand.

The sponsorship of the Cubify 3D printer, the Sense scanner and Sculpting software, now makes a complete Cubify package for Robohand.

Thank you to Bernard and CAD House for your generosity and willingness to help out Robohand.

CAD House has just launched their CAD Lab which encompasses a complete 3D Development solution with membership plans to suite every budget. Not only do they offer great products and software but now you can sign up for a membership to use their awesome products.

Visit them at http://www.cad-house.co.za/ for more information or via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/3DPrinterRSA

]]> http://www.robohand.net/2014/02/technology-today/feed/ 0 http://www.robohand.net/2013/07/xixi-gets-her-robohand/ http://www.robohand.net/2013/07/xixi-gets-her-robohand/#comments Wed, 10 Jul 2013 19:09:00 +0000 http://www.robohand.net/2013/07/xixi-gets-her-robohand/ Continue reading →]]> Following our initial post about Xixi in the USA sending us molds of her hand to South Africa, we got feedback today that her Robohand arrived and she is actively using it on the first day!

When Rich received her molds he set about creating her Robohand without her physically present to fit it. There are always concerns when fitting on a mold as you cannot see how the wrist moves or if there will be any chaffing in areas.

Xixi has been trying out all sorts of things with her new Robohand. Her brother was helping her to play with a Rubiks cube; she was stacking and picking up a Coke bottle. We are so excited that her Robohand fits well and that she is using it to do all sorts of things!

Well done Xixi and welcome to the wall of fame!

Xixi is 9 years old and was born limb different. She is adopted and was born with ABS, like so many other children all over the world.  Xixi was born in Wuhan China and was adopted by the Padgett’s in 2005 where she now lives with them and her 3 older siblings, in the USA.

Xixi’s Mom, Melissa says that Xixi has not let her limb difference hinder her in any way at all. Brother Adam (age 10) and Xixi learned to tie their shoe laces together on the same day and Adam helped her to learn to ride her bike this Spring. Xixi had some balance issues in the beginning as she could not hold the handle bar, but once she got the balance right, she was off and away and spent the entire spring break on her bike.

Xixi’s Hand today

Xixi is not only academic and loves school; mostly getting straight A’s, but she draws, writes, cooks, takes Tae Kwon Do lessons, where she just earned her green belt with two stripes, and now she is starting to practice with a bow and arrow.

Home Cooked Blackberry Pie

Her Mom says that she loves to shop for clothes, shoes and purses. She likes thrift stores and clothes shops best.

She has lots of friends at school and loves to have her girlfriends over as her older siblings are all boys, so she feels a bit left out being the only girl at home.

One of her best friends is another girl from China who also has ABS. They were adopted the same year.

A Family Outing

Xixi loves animals, especially kittens. At home they have 5 cats. Xixi was afraid of dogs when she was very little, but she’s not afraid of any animals now (except bees). She plays with the two dogs at home as well as the hedgehog and the snake.

We at Robohand feel very lucky to bring Xixi into our family. However, this is going to be a difficult process as she lives so far away. Xixi’s Mom will need to provide us with moulds of her hand so that Richard can work out the sizing of the Robohand and the fitting of the hand cap and gauntlet.

This is also not going to be a fast process and will take many weeks up and down, until Xixi has her functioning mechanical hand.

We are very excited at the prospect of this long distance collaboration and helping to enable Xixi in her everyday life.

Thank you to the Padgetts for contacting us and to everyone who has contributed to our project, enabling us to make these things happen.

Reflections

Dylan was playing Cricket last week and put up his Robohand to catch the ball – and you guessed it – broke a finger. Lucky there were no hospital bills!

During the week Richard scaled up the Robohand to Adult size for Dylan and then used the plasti-dip to coat the entire hand and dip the fingers. He decided on the pearl finish and WOW how stunning!

When Dylan arrived at the workshop and saw the hand he totally forgot his manners and went straight for his new hand.  He hauled a colleague out side with the camera so they could take pictures of his Robohand next to all the different colours to see the reflections.

Dylan has also been teaching himself to write with his Robohand. We are totally awed by his determination and committal to try anything once. He is definitely stretching the abilities of Robohand and we love it!

Keep it up Dylan!