A two year old girl born with arthrogryposis, a congenital disease that left her unable to lift her own arms, has been given a new lease on life by a 3D printed robotic exoskeleton, enabling her to move freely for the very first time. The exoskeleton, made of a similar material to Lego, was manufactured using a Stratasys Dimension 3D printer so as to create a prosthetic light enough for young Emma to continue walking around freely.
While creating a lightweight exoskeleton by hand would be extremely difficult, 3D printing technology enabled the Alfred I. duPont researchers to not only customize WREX to Emma’s specifications in their own CAD software, but then print that design at that exact specification.