Father created a bionic prosthesis for his son using a 3D printer and X-Box

Original author: ITV REPORT
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Saul Smith-Ryan at ITV News. ITV News

article translated for you Top 3D Shop .

The father of the child, whose arm had to be amputated, took a decisive step and created a bionic limb for his son using the XBox console and a 3D printer.
When Sol Smith-Ryan was born, doctors discovered a blood clot in his hand, which left them no choice but to amputate the limb.

The family joined Alastair Stewart at ITV Studios, on the Lunchtime News program.


Saul's parents were informed that the baby will be able to receive an electronic prosthesis when he turns three or four years old, and a mechanical one - after reaching 18 months.
Ben Ryan, Sol's father, felt it was important for the boy to get the prosthesis as soon as possible.


Ben Ryan believed that the sooner Saul had a prosthesis, the easier it was for him to get comfortable.

“With my knowledge in the field of psychology, I knew that to sit back (as suggested by the National Health Service) was not the best solution, and I thought that I might be able to offer the best way out,” the former teacher explained.

Mr. Ryan studied the information about hand prostheses and found "a fairly clear pattern that if children do not have a suitable functional prosthesis before the age of two, then after reaching 2 years they tend to reject it."


Sol's arm was amputated after his birth. Photo courtesy of the Smith-Ryan family.

Mr. Ryan believed that the sooner Saul got an artificial arm, the better he could get comfortable with it, and set himself the goal of developing a prosthesis that could be worn from an earlier age and that would not have the disadvantages of electronic or mechanical prostheses, which are often rejected small children.


Sol’s hand at the moment is the second prototype created by his father.

Having given up work to give all his strength to the work on the project, Mr. Ryan spent a year developing an artificial limb, inspired by the principle of operation of spider legs working hydraulically. Lacking prior knowledge of prosthetics, Mr. Ryan began by watching a lot of training videos on YouTube in order to understand how to achieve this goal. A year later, using nothing but an Xbox scanner and a 3D printer from Bangor University, Sol's father created his first prototype.

Sol's bionic arm allows him to use his elbow to create pressure that causes fluid to circulate inside the prosthesis. The pressure of the fluid moves the thumb of the prosthesis, which allows you to take objects.

Kate Smith, Sol’s mother, said that she hadn’t seen her husband all day while he was working on his project in the barn, in their garden in Anglesey, at times it seemed to him that he was obsessed.

“But Ben is a very motivated person, so I knew that he was driven by a desire to help his son and that he would succeed.”

In the leadership of the Ministry of Health, Ben Ryan’s invention was called “possibly revolutionary in prosthetics”.

After succeeding with a prosthesis for his son, Ryan set himself the goal of collecting £ 150,000 through a crowdfunding page to allow his Ambionics company to enter the prosthesis market.

Can a similar project appear in Russia? Will inexpensive, yet high-quality and functional prostheses be available to our disabled people? Share your opinion in the comments.

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