South African Boy Gets Robotic Hand Made With 3-D Printer

A 3-D printed prosthetic hand has changed the life of a 5-year-old South African boy  [..] and may be a model for people seeking a low-cost prosthesis.

The boy, named Liam, benefited from work done by Ivan Owen, a part-time mechanical special effects artist in Washington. He was collaborating online with Rich Van As, a woodworker from South Africa [..] The men decided to make Liam his own “robohand” and the result has been life-changing [..]

The fingers and wrist hinge were made using a 3-D printer — a computerized device that, given the dimensions of an object, can create copies of it by adding layers of resin or other material.