Albert Mareno:
An engineer graduate from the
University of Central Florida (UCF) has quickly made a name for himself in the
prosthetic world. How did he do it? Well Albert Mareno is making children’s
dreams come true.
Albert has been 3D printing and
assembling mechanical parts to make themed artificial limbs. You may have
recently heard of his work in recent news stories focusing on Robert Downy Jr.
delivering an Iron Man themed prosthetic hand to a 6 year-old boy named Alex
who was born with a malformed hand. Alex was not the only one pleased with his
gift but so were his parents. They stated prostheses with the moving capability
like the one Albert made usually cost at minimum of $4,000 but the one that Albert 3D prints
is valued at $350. At the bottom of this post is a video of the interaction
between Robert Downey Jr. and Alex.
The actual themed 3D printed hand
begins at the upper forearm and ends with functioning hand. The movements of
the fingers are powered by an internal device with electrode pads that are
attached to the biceps, triceps, and remains of the flexor and extensor family.
Albert says that he hopes that his
team will develop are more functional hand in the future. He says that his
first goal is to establish movement at the elbow. Albert says he plans to
further reduce the cost of these prosthetics while adding new technology such
as sensation technology that is currently being manufactured at a very high
price.
Albert is involved in a global
citizen science called The Collective Project. This project hopes that
participants share ideas of future prostheses designs and ideas how to improve
the prosthetic while reducing cost.
Alex is not the only kid that has
received one of Albert’s artificial limbs. Kids that have one seem ecstatic
about a better prosthetic and more importantly they feel relieved that they can
fit in with a new limb while showing off a theme that they love.
I think that this is a great thing that Mareno has done. Prosthetics can be extremely expensive and some people that need them cannot afford them. I think that we should be utilizing that great scientific advances that we have made, such as 3-D printing, to make prosthetics more accessible and affordable. I don't necessarily understand the mechanics behind these prosthetics, but I think it's really fascinating how much they resemble a real limb in their mobility.
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ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that they can use this new technology to make prosthetics for those who need it. Plus the price is much cheaper and has more artistic freedom in design, and color. I'm not sure exactly how the mechanics works, but it's interesting how the pulse from the person's arm can send a signal to the hand to open and close it. The video was a great touch with Robert and Alex. I hope more people and scientists can get involved with this project and help it grow to ensure children in need of a prosthetic are able to get one without the crazy costs.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a brilliant idea to use 3D printing to lower the cost of prosthetic limbs, it's also fascinating how Mareno and his team thought about using 3D printing when no body else thought about it and customize it into different themes for the children, and it's wonderful how they are fullfiling the wishes of many children who wishes to participate in activities that they can't before.
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