Three-Minute Documentary on 3D Printing ‘Project Daniel’
Remember Not Impossible, the philanthropic organization by Mick Ebeling? With their running project, Project Daniel, they provide low-cost prosthetics for victims of the Sudan war. The organization by Ebeling has made the news again, as Intel has covered a story on Project Daniel as part of its Look Inside campaign for love, belief, courage and power.
So how did Project Daniel see the light? Well, Daniel Omar is a boy who has lost both his hands from a war bomb when he was only 14 years old. War has played a major role in Sudan for the last decades. The Second Sudan Civil War lasted from 1983 until 2005 and the South Sudan Border War afflicted the country in 2012. Because of these bloody wars, a lot of people got hurt and lost one of more limbs.
When Ebeling read about this in Time Magazine he felt that he had to do something about it. He already had Not Impossible and thought this could be a good new project for the organization. The man thought about the possibilities of 3D printing and he therefore decided to search for people to help him to produce low-cost, 3D printed prosthetic arms.
It didn’t take long for him to get his team together, which consisted of a Californian 3D printing company, an Australian MIT neuroscientist and the South African inventor of the Robohand. Companies Precipart and Intel decided to support his project, which finally led to the new video by Intel.
The great thing about Not Impossible’s 3D printing project is that they found a way to produce prosthetic arms for only 100 dollars, so they can help as many people as possible. In only six hours, a prosthetic can be made, but these prosthetics are unable to perform difficult actions, such as controlling the fingers and lifting heavy objects. However, the start is there and Not Impossible has proved that this was actually not impossible.
But the story doesn’t end there, because Ebeling eventually needed to get back home. The smart thing about their project is that it goes on after the Americans left. Not Impossible managed to set up a hospital with 3D printers, so the Sudan people became able to help other war victims with 3D printed prosthetics. They can’t get their arms back, but because of 3D printing techniques they do get back some comfortability.
It’s a great example of how 3D printing can help people in poorer countries to improve the quality of their lives. Below you can see the three-minute documentary by Intel. It was made by Venables Bell + Partners and director Lucy Walker: