- When I first started
working on this project.
I was really excited because
I thought it could be
something that was impactful.
But I had no plan or
concept of how it could be.
If enough people came onboard.
It could have broader potential.
A lot of people have no idea.
That something like this exist.
You're helping somebody else be complete.
Now that we can email
a hand through space.
We're starting to enter a very cool realm
of what is possible.
I always knew that I wanted to pursue art
for my entire life.
I tend to just chase the next
thing that looks interesting.
And do all sorts of weird and fun stuff.
So from time to time I get commissions
to create art for particular purposes.
A lot of it is in the realm
of making weird costumes.
Or mechanical props for theatre and stage.
Yeah, it is really cool.
At the beginning of all this,
what surprised me was that
art could serve a purpose
that was very practical and I
could create benefit as well.
When I made the video
of the giant puppet hand
and I put it on YouTube.
I didn't expect anything to happen.
And never would've anticipated that
it would lead to me getting
an email from somebody
asking to work on a project
like the one that came along.
That video was seen by a
carpenter in South Africa.
Who was missing fingers
on one of his hands
due to an accident.
He suggested that maybe he
and I could work to create
a replacement finger for him.
That design was seen by
a mother of a little guy
who was born without any fingers.
And she had the idea.
Hey, what about an entire set.
I found an earlier design that
was made in the mid-1800s.
We made a basic prototype for Liam.
- Nice!
Liam what do you think of your robot hand?
- It's tough and it's beautiful.
- It was very moving to be
present for that moment.
But Liam was going to
outgrow the metal hand
that we had built as quickly
as he outgrows shoes.
And then somebody else had a suggestion,
maybe looking into 3-D printing.
So I did something that I
thought was a long shot.
Which was I just called up the
customer service department
of MakerBot.
Described what we were up to.
Asking if maybe they'd be able to give us
a couple of machines.
'Cause we had no budget for this.
They ended saying that they would provide
a couple of machines.
That's what we used to develop
the first printable model
for Liam.
Once we had a digital design,
that changes that game.
What surprised me was
that it would lead to
changing a lot of lives
all over the world.
- My kids, a lot of them get
bullied for being different.
We're not just making hands,
it's more about giving them
the confidence that they
were lacking before.
Ivan likes to describe me as
the wizard behind the curtain.
I am kind of doing all of
the behind-the-scenes work
for e-NABLE.
Ivan released the design into
the open-source community.
- [Ivan] I thought that more
innovation would take place
if people weren't worried
about patent infringement.
From there other people
started to improve upon it.
Jon Schull made a Google Plus
group that people could join.
And things blossomed.
- Well I have three 3-D printers.
- We have about 10,000 people who are
in the Google Plus community.
A map was created where
volunteers could put themselves on it.
And then families could find them.
More families were hearing about it
because it was getting shared on Facebook.
Eventually there were a lotta families
that were looking for help.
And one of those kids
ended up being Aidan.
- Well before Aidan was born.
I wanted a son!
I was excited to see what the
little guy would look like.
He was born without any
fingers on his left hand.
I didn't know until I was holding him.
- Aidan say football!
- In the beginning
I was always worried about
what he wouldn't be able to do.
I'm a huge video-gamer.
And it was one of my things
where I always wanted to just
sit down and be able to just play a game.
You know, play a game with your son.
And I was worried that
that wouldn't happen.
All he's done is prove me wrong.
- [Aidan] What?
- [Andrew] Oh man!
- [Aidan] Yes you get it.
Only from a powerful guy.
- Children can be just brutally honest.
- This other little kid
didn't want to hold his hand.
"Uh that's the kid with the weird hand."
And that's what prompted
us to try to find something
to help boost his confidence.
I found out that if you
just sign up for e-NABLE.
They'll match you with a local builder.
And just send it to you for free.
We sent him Aidan's
measurements on a Friday
and that Monday he had the hand finished.
Now instead of being the
weird kid with the weird hand.
He is the kid with the robot hand.
After watching Aidan get that hand.
And that smile on his face.
I wanted anybody that was down.
I wanted to help them smile.
I started our own local e-NABLE
chapter here in Rockford.
The way that Ivan did the open-source
just to make sure no one
could take credit for it
or charge it I think was a
completely selfless move.
- I can eat my Ring Pop!
- [Ivan] It would be a fantastic
thing to be able to claim
that I had some sort of master plan
that led to something
like e-NABLE taking shape
and prosthetic hands being
built with 3-D printers
all over the world.
But nothing would be
further from the truth.
The way I see it, my role in all this
is that I helped to put
something into motion.
And it's folks like Andrew and Aidan
that are really going to carry it forward
in a powerful way.
- [Assiant] Alright here we go.
- [Jen] I definitely didn't
expect the crazy things
that were coming out of my garage
would end up changing lives of people
in countries I haven't even heard of.
The project to me has
grown bigger than just
getting to enjoy seeing
the photos and the videos
of the kids picking stuff
up for the first time.
That always makes me cry.
But all these designers and the people
who've put their work into this project.
Have inspired a movement
to create for the sake of
improving the lives of other people.
And that was just really powerful to me.
- [Ivan] The other side of it is that
the kids that use these are going to be
the future engineers and designers
that push the technology further
to make the hands even better.
And so getting them thinking about it now.
Is what's going to build the future
of what these devices become.
