Bionic prostheses for babies and toddlers

RS Components supports a start-up that develops fully functional prostheses with hydraulic technology. The newly formed company has a mission to bring this technology to children around the world who need it. It all began when the inventor developed an aid for his own son.

RS provided all of the 3D printing filament for the prototype development of hydraulic limbs after Ben Ryan - dissatisfied with popular prostheses for babies and toddlers - abandoned his teaching career to devote himself to developing a new arm for his son dedicate. His son lost an arm in a childbirth injury. Ben Ryan also wanted other children to have access to this technology in similar situations. Therefore, he founded the company Ambionics, which was previously financed by crowdfunding. RS supports the beta test with 20 families around the world.

Portrait of an inventor

The impetus for this support came from a television report: Ryan's mission was recorded in a video in the series "Portrait of a Inventor". Alison Hutchings, Assistant Global Category Manager 3D Print at RS: "I saw the moving and heartwarming story of Ben Ryan on television news and thought there could be a way for the RS to get involved and help contacted Ben Ryan via Linkedin, and thus built a relationship with him, inspiring us with his mission and bold vision, especially that he was someone with no prior knowledge of development or background in design spoke to us we decided to support Ambionics. "

By providing the 3D print filament, Ben Ryan can focus on the beta test without being constrained by production costs. The project has already aroused great interest and raised 23.000 £ through crowdfunding of the total needed 150.000 £. "It's a very valuable project and we're proud to be among the supporters," adds Alison.

Options for the youngest

Ben Ryan said, "I am delighted with the progress we have made in the development and testing of the Ambionics prostheses, thanks to the loyal supporters of the project." The current options for babies and toddlers who lost limbs The technique relies on sensors that can not be used by people under the age of three or four and, moreover, many of the prosthetics are not aesthetically pleasing at all, so my goal is to work with Ambionics children Helping people around the world use prosthetics and put them into adulthood - the key to using them at the earliest possible age is that they work safely and do not contain any small parts or batteries.

Ambionics' support reinforces RS's new brand positioning, which is summarized with the motto "for the inspired". In this positioning, the company is about to highlight the special services of its customers and suppliers. It aims to demonstrate how RS is on hand to support its innovations, whenever technical opportunities for the future are to be promoted, or when ideas are to be translated into reality.