Eight students from the university’s Department of Industrial Engineering have created prosthetic hands in the laboratories in Povo to donate to children born with disabilities or who have had amputations. The students involved, enrolled in the last year of the master’s degree in materials engineering, are Massimiliano Tomaselli, Giovanni Spiaggia, Michele Perenzin, Ethan Debattisti, Davide Bottone, Francesco Baggio, Davide Ambrosi and Luca Durante. The students have joined the e-NABLE association of volunteers, an international network founded in 2013 at the Rochester Institute of Technology (United States). The idea to involve the students in this initiative came from professor Claudio Migliaresi, head of the university’s BIOtech research center.
The prosthetics, created with 3D printers, are low cost and have good performance, allowing the children to regain, albeit partially, the functionality of the missing limb, and improving their quality of life. In addition, they can be used for several years before being replaced. The students are very enthusiastic about building these prosthetics and are studying how to add further innovations, to improve the aesthetics, functionality and resistance. The students are looking for sponsors to enable them to cover expenses and continue working on the project.
