College students could have made millions, but give design for $350 bionic arm away for free.

www.nbcnews.com...

Unfortunately this is a video, not an article (hate when they do that), so I'll give you a brief summary. A mother was desperate to find a cheap bionic arm for a 6-year old boy who was born without his right arm. Keep in mind that these things are normally $40,000 a pop. After trying everything she reaches out on the internet to see if anyone could help her. These college students came to the rescue. They designed and built a 3d printed arm with a functioning hand for less than $350. Then, not only did they give this arm to the boy for free, but they also posted the designs on the internet for all to use. This type of selflessness is not common in this day and age. This is true altruism and should be rewarded. I really hope these young men are rewarded for their efforts (at the very least have their college tuition paid off) cause they deserve it.

a reply to: Vdogg

Wow VDogg! This is great! Good find, and Thanx for the Share!
Those students are to be commended for their generosity and commitment for making,
then giving that arm to the little guy! Plus putting out the designs for free for all to use is
just about unheard of nowadays!!

Later, Syx.

a reply to: Vdogg
How could anyone be surprised about this?
This is the way any normal person would act.
The process of soaking people for all of their money for wanted or even needed items is psychopathic and corporate.
The beauty of the 3D printer is all one has to do is look and or scan it to replicate it.
The corporations fear these open source tools and ideas, what will they do when the human beings can help each other out and starve the middle man?

Awesome story! For those like me who didnt watch the video, here is a written news article Linked News Source

This is the kind of things I hope we see more of in the future. Technology actually not being abused but used for those in need.

a reply to: Vdogg

Bless Their Souls!
So shines a good deed,
in a weary world.

www.youtube.com...

Thanks for some good news for a moment.

S&F

The gave it away because they were smart enough to understand that they would NOT have made millions from it. Any person with a moderate amount of knowledge can design a bionic arm in 3D CAD, and send it off to a company like Shapeways, and have them print it up for for a low cost. So there is no real market.

Awesome story of good people doing good things for others.

But damn, sensational title much? Millions of dollars?

a reply to: ThinkingCap

Considering the normal cost of this stuff, they definitely could have made a lot of money from design, licensing, etc. Keep in mind, it costs no where near $40,000 for these corporations to make a normal bionic arm. That is simply the price after markups (aka everyone gets their cut). These boys could have easily said "Try our new and improved bionic arm that now only cost $20,000" and taken that money to the bank. Instead of trying to shake people down however they did something for the benefit of all people. So the short answer is no, I don't think the title is "sensational" and furthermore, see no reason to downplay these young men's accomplishment as some are trying to do here. I guess it all depends on your outlook on life though. There will always be those complaining about that one raindrop in a sky full of rainbows...

This is brilliant, A+ for these fellas.
I think we will be seeing a lot more of this actually , with 3-D printing and many people offering lots of stuff in the open source universe. Its a step in the right direction. I mean look at kick starter for example...
People have an idea to do something worth while, and strangers get together to make it happen.

I think that most people are generally good , its just the few sour ones that make all the fuss and problems.
Oh man... I'm feeling optimistic on a Monday???
Time for some doom porn to get my head straight.

a reply to: Vdogg

Okay, I get it man, this is very noble of them.
But millions of dollars? I don't think so.

Don't be surprised if the FDA ends up finding this is an illegal medical device and enforces it's removal.

a reply to: Vdogg

These students will get nowhere in life if they give it away for free.They are quite stupid.

They should have made millions FIRST and then given the women a lower price or even free arm as a promotional stunt and gotten free publicity which would get them even more money in more sales and maybe given some charity some money as a tax deduction.


if you have money people will love you can come to your funeral in their thousands and remember you.you will be rich and famous.nobody remembers people who give things for free.In fact free things are usually not appreciated and often dumped.

people will respect you if you have money.

With millions they would have had big houses,cars,swimming pools and thousands of girls begging for their cream.