Students 3D-print prosthetic hands

Five-year-old Jonny Maldonado was born with a tiny hand and just two fingers. People with his condition have only one option — an expensive 15-pound claw-like prosthesis — and young patients outgrow their prosthetics too quickly to make it a viable treatment.

However, thanks to groundbreaking 3-D printing technology and the hard work of the USC Freehand Project, Jonny was fitted with a custom-made “super-hand” that lets him play baseball and ride a bike just like other kids.

The Freehand Project, which was founded last September by senior mechanical engineering major Alison Glazer and alumna Kara Tanaka, utilizes 3-D printers to create prosthetic hands for kids like Jonny. Tanaka was inspired to start the club after hearing about the work done by e-NABLE, a network of volunteers who deliver 3-D printed hands all around the globe. She approached Glazer, the president of the 3-D printing club 3D For Everyone, to unite Tanaka’s medical background with 3D4E’s engineering expertise.

“This project invited other people — we had artists, architects — people who were looking for a different entry into 3-D printing,” Tanaka said. “Everybody’s coming in and bringing in a little bit of what they know, and together they’re building a bigger project.”

Using schematics provided by e-NABLE, the club has already supplied dozens of hands to Syria and Haiti. They have also joined forces with local children’s hospitals to custom build prosthetics for children in Los Angeles. Encouraged by their success, 3D4E incorporated Project Freehand as a permanent branch of their club this semester.

Maddie McCarthy, director of operations at 3D4E, said the Freehand Project has received support from AIO Robotics, a startup founded by three USC Ph.D. students.

“We were fortunate enough to partner with [AIO]. We were lucky enough to get two of their printers,” McCarthy said. “The more printers we get, the more people we can help and reach.”

At the end of each semester, after printing the hands, the Freehand Project delivers them to e-NABLE director of programs, Maria Esquela, who coordinates troops of Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts in Baltimore, Maryland, to assemble the hands.

However, things don’t always go as planned. From snowstorms causing chaos last winter to a wave of protests this spring that erupted after 25-year-old Freddie Gray died in police custody and led the government to declare a state of emergency in Baltimore, the Scouts have worked hard to deliver the hands to Syrian children intact and on-time.

“It was difficult to get across Baltimore because Baltimore was in a state of civil disturbance,” Esquela said. “My daughter and I drove past tanks and people with machine guns and heavy body armor.”

In spite of the difficulties, Esquela praised the Freehand Project and the Scouts for volunteering their time to help out children in need.

“This project transformed us, and it made us connect with a team that was bigger,” Esquela said. “It became a very powerful thing for us to feel like we were able to connect with a team that was trying to help people.”

The club has grown tremendously since it began. Last year, 3D4E only had around 30 members, and now there are over 70 students involved in the Freehand Project alone. Moving forward, the team hopes to expand and connect with more partners in Southern California. They are now printing hands for children in Sierra Leone.

McCarthy recalled one of her most memorable experiences working with the Freehand Project, which occurred when the group custom-printed hands for children in Los Angeles.

“Each 3D4E team member was actually able to put the hand on the child that they printed it for. This was my first time seeing the hands in use,” McCarthy said. “Watching a kid pick up something with his new hand was probably one of the most amazing moments I’ve ever experienced.”