Marcelo Botelho is a student of mechanical engineering, a product designer and a 3D Printing enthusiast located in Brazil. Earlier this year, he came upon a video online about 3D printed prosthetic hands and decided he wanted to try making one for Luanderson, a young boy who asks for money in the streets.
The first design failed due to the high costs of the materials required to create the design he had found and he was unable to complete the device for young Luanderson. A school teacher contacted him after seeing a newspaper article about his first attempt at creating a 3D printed device and asked if he could make a hand for one of her young students, a little boy named Kelvin.
Kelvin is a young boy whose family struggles in the outskirts of Sao Paulo and he was ashamed of his hand and always hiding it from people. Marcelo did not give up on making a 3D printed prosthetic hand and started to search online for another design in hopes of finding one that would not require the same types of expensive materials as the first design he had attempted. In his search, he found e-NABLE‘s “Cyborg Beast” design on Thingiverse and downloaded the files.
Because e-NABLE strives to make our designs as low cost as possible – Marcelo was able to complete a device for Kelvin and even created it in the theme of “Ben 10” – one of his favorite cartoon characters. He wanted him to feel like a super hero and presented it to him at his school. In the video above, you can see him getting fitted for the device, playing with toys and taking a moment to himself to enjoy his new fingers.
Marcelo hopes that media will discover him in his country so that he can share the news of e-NABLE, help find a way to get more 3D printers into communities that need help with low cost prosthetics and to teach others how to make them.
Now, because of e-NABLE’s designs, Marcelo can finally make a completed hand for Luanderson too.
The hope of e-NABLE is to continue to work toward designs that cost as little to produce as possible, so that families and individuals in countries where supplies are limited and far too expensive to acquire – can simply print out most everything they need to create them. Our goal is to produce designs that cost little to produce, are safe and comfortable and can be easily assembled by anyone, anywhere around the world.
We hope to begin outreach to countries with underserved populations and start a global effort to educate people about 3D printing and just how much of a change it can make in the lives of people from all over the world.
Would you like to help make a hand?
Would you like to get on the wait list for a hand?
Would you like someone to help print parts for you so you can make one of these devices for someone you love?
Please email us at letsgetstarted@enablingthefuture.org
To help us get materials, purchase 3D printers and get teams of volunteers to teach others in underserved locations around the world who have a great need for low cost and easily assembled prosthetic hand devices – we welcome any donations you would like to provide.
Thank you for helping us make a difference.