here is a project that you want to know about.

More than 50,000 people in the Sudan have lost limbs due to ongoing conflicts and lack reliable access to prosthetics. In 2013, a member of the Not Impossible team set up in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains what was probably the world’s first 3D-printing prosthetic lab and training facility. Why?

Because “after losing both his arms, a boy in the South Sudan said he wished he had died rather than be a burden to his family. So Not Impossible brought a prothestic lab to him”. View Not Impossible’s Project Daniel to see how it ended.

Beyond Project Daniel: Prosthetics in a box

Project Daniel highlighted the need for affordable, modular, accessible prosthetics. So Not Impossible developed “Prosthetic in A Box”:

This is a prototype for a potential simple prosthetic arm that cost less than $100: a game-change both in places with lack of access and for users with expensive and difficult-to-replace prosthetics whose quality of life would be augmented by having an economical back-up option.

From their website, it seems that Not Impossible projects are open source. This is great, making them members of a much larger (if not always as effective, or well funded) family of “Open Prosthetics” hackers, like the ones I met in Nantes some years ago:

Kudos to Not Impossible, and please note they do more than prosthetics: see what on their projects page.

(This post was drafted in June 2020, but only put online in August, because… my coronavirus reports, of course)