Hayley Fraser, a
five-year-old girl from Scotland, recently became the first child in
the United Kingdom to be outfitted with a prosthetic limb made using
3D printing technology.
She was born without fingers on her left hand. Her parents, David
and Zania Fraser, went online to try and help their daughter who
had been turned down by the National Health System. They came
across the website of E-nable, a group of volunteers in the United
States who design and build prosthetics for children. They made a
cast of their daughter's hand and sent it to the group. Professor
Flood used the model to print out properly-sized prosthetic
components using a 3D printer.
Now, Hayley can manipulate her prosthetic hand's artificial
tendons, joints, and fingers by flexing and rotating her wrist.
She can hold her teddy, peel a banana, and even paint her nails.
Her new bright pink bionic hand was inspired by the movie Ironman.