Bringing happiness to a child with 3D Printing technology

Victims of War in Sudan Aided by 3D Printing

Last November, equipped with two 3D printers, a few days’ intensive training, and a digital schematic for a 3D printed prosthetic arm, Mick Ebeling flew to war-torn Sudan to find Daniel Omar. Daniel had lost both his arms in a Sudanese government airstrike two years earlier. Now, Daniel has a brand new custom 3D printed arm.

We often write about 3D printing and how, combined with other computer-assisted technologies, it might remake the industrial landscape, but rarely does the tech’s impact seem so immediate and clear.

Using naught but string, a lump of plastic, a computer, and a 3D printer—Ebeling manufactured a simple, functional prosthetic arm in a refugee camp in rural Sudan. It’s not Luke Skywalker, but it’s a significant improvement over the alternative.

There are two beginnings to this story.

Ebeling founded Not Impossible Labs to tackle audacious projects with big positive impacts—naïveté, he says, is the key to innovation. One of Ebeling’s first endeavors was a communications device called Eyewriter for Tempt One, a graffiti artist paralyzed with ALS. Eyewriter translated Tempt’s eye movements into an onscreen painting.

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