3D-printing often seems overhyped. Well over a
dozen organizations peddled 3D-printed wares at Maker Faire in
Silicon Valley this weekend, promising that the products are part
of an amazing future that will squirt itself out before our very
eyes. Most of it was complete junk, glorified paperweights, and
thumb-fiddling trinkets. However, there were two standout startups
that are actually making people’s lives better with printed
prosthetic hands and orthotic shoes.
“Six months ago I was going into a shoe store trying on shoes,
and I had to try on 10 pairs of shoes to find one that fits because
I wear orthotics,” Feetz CEO and
founder Lucy Beard says. “I went to Starbucks next door and ordered
a triple shot mocha with soy milk and realized you can have 87,000
combinations from Starbucks, but I can’t go into a shoe store and
find a pair that works for me.”
So she decided to make a product for people like her. And people
unlike her. Feetz is creating completely personalized shoes for
1,000 beta customers. Her shoes can cope with a range of issues
like bunions, club foot, or even simply uncommonly large feet.
Beard acknowledges that there are others in the business of 3D
printing shoes, but some are hard plastic and require leather
insoles. Other companies exclusively print insoles. Others yet
print custom shoes, but they’re
novelties, not orthopedics. Feetz is unique because it offers
the entire package.
Throughout the weekend-long event, Beard’s printer, an Airwolf,
churned out flexible but strong latticework insoles and Croc-esque
exteriors. Given the advanced technology and precision
customization involved, Feetz’s $200 price tag is reasonable. “You
can compare it to Nike iD. They sell it for about $200 and you
change just the color of the shoe, or orthotics that can range up
to $500,” says Beard.
At a
nearby booth, E-Nable
representative Andreas Bastian demonstrated the gripping
capabilities of a range of functional prosthetic hands.
“We’re focusing on amniotic band syndrome, which is a birth
defect in which one or more fingers are stunted in the womb. It’s a
problem,” he says, “in which 3D-printed designs can very cleanly be
leveraged to make people’s lives better.”
An interesting feature of E-Nable, which has existed for less
than a year but currently boasts around 860 printers, is that it’s
completely decentralized, produces its assistive devices on a
volunteer basis, and provides them to people free of charge. It’s
more of a “peer-to-peer network” than a business, says Bastian.
Why do people volunteer their time, money, and resources to this
cause?
Bastian explains that many of the makers are motivated to help
children, because they “get a tremendous sense of empowerment when
they have this device that’s produced directly for them.”
And producing a hand really isn’t expensive. An E-Nable device
costs between $25 and $250 to print, compared to prosthetics
approved by the Food and Drug Administration, which can cost
$50,000. That’s not say E-Nable cuts corners on production. They
exclusively use materials that have been tested in medical and
athletic environments. Some E-Nable device users have said
they prefer
them to the costlier alternatives.
The E-Nable network’s next step forward is to improve products
by introducing electrical sensors for more precise muscle
control.
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