NDSU Award Winning Team Builds Affordable Prosthetics

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A group of NDSU students is hoping to change lives for people who need artificial limbs but might not have the money to pay for them.

The students designed a prosthetic arm for a 3-year-old that was built using a 3-D printer.

Prosthetics cost anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000.

But these 3-D printed prosthetics could cost as little as $400.

What started as a senior design project on creating low cost prosthetics has turned into an award winning business venture.

“Our company plans are to be open source which basically means our plans and designs will be online for people to download and make themselves.  We will also be manufacturing these and selling these to care providers and hospitals around the nation and even around the world,” says Cooper Bierscheid, co-founder.
 
The group won an Ozy Genius Award and a $10,000 grant for their pediatric prosthetic arm.