Washington University in St. Louis seniors (from left) Kranti Peddada, Kendall Gretsch and Henry Lather designed and built a robotic prosthetic arm for 13-year-old Sydney Kendall (center left). Sydney requested that her new arm be pink. Total cost: $200, a fraction of the price of standard prosthetics, which start at $6,000.
Read: Students ‘Print’ Pink Prosthetic Arm for Teen Girl
This January 2014 video demonstrates the team’s first prototype for its biomedical engineering senior design project at Washington University in St. Louis. The device is a prosthetic arm for anyone with a transradial limb difference (the arm distal to the elbow is absent). By moving the shoulder, the user controls digit flexion and extension. Vertical shoulder motions flex and extend all five digits, while horizontal shoulder movements flex and extend solely the thumb.