3-D Printer Creates Lightweight Prosthetic to Allow Child to Move Her Arms Independently
Two-year-old Emma was born with a defect that severely affected her ability to move appendages like her arms. She couldn’t play with blocks, feed herself or even wrap her arms around her parents.
Now, thanks to the versatility and customizable options available from 3-D printing technology, researchers have “printed” an “exoskeleton” that is allowing her to move her arms independently for the first time.
As Emma’s mother, Megan Lavelle, describes in a YouTube video, Emma’s disorder is known as arthrogryposis multiplex congenita.
“When she was born, her legs were up by her ears and her shoulders were internally rotated,” Lavelle, said in the video.
As heartbreaking as this news was for a new mother, she soon found out about a conference in Philadelphia about the Wilmington Robotic Exoskeleton (WREX), presented by doctors at duPont Hospital for Children. The WREX technology, according to Core 77, is not necessarily new, but its functionality for children as small as Emma was previously too heavy.