Inventor Stephen Davies is literally ‘Giving a Hand’ to children worldwide by making ultra-cool, super-cheap, state-of-the-art, 3D-printed prosthetic arms — all from inside this 8’ x 6’ garden shed.
Let’s give a big hand for this small shed
Stephen Davies’ shed near Swansea is the centre of operations for Team UnLimbited, where he has developed and built a 3D printing operation to make prosthetic arms and hands. They are provided free to children across the country and the open-sourced designs are used around the world.
Some of the more sophisticated bionic arms today can cost upwards of £30,000
To the casual observer, it would appear to be the most ordinary of common garden sheds. But hidden inside is a state-of-the-art workshop where a genius inventor makes prosthetic arms to help dozens of children.
Designer Stephen Davies was himself born without a left lower arm, and remembers well the stigma of the clunky NHS-issue prosthetic he wore as a child.
After several years of not using them, the 43-year-old began to look at the designs which are currently available on the NHS (National Health Service), only to discover they had barely improved in the 30+ years since his own childhood experiences.
Some of the more sophisticated modern bionic arms, which are not available on the NHS, can cost upwards of £30,000 (€34,100/$40,740). If a child outgrows their prosthetic as fast as they outgrow their shoes, Stephen realised there needs to be an alternative solution.
Team UnLimbited: make a donation
100% of your donation will go towards building a device for a recipient or towards funding R&D projects to benefit recipients and be shared as open source for the non-commercial benefit of everyone around the world.