Social Hardware's Prosthetic Hand Development Kit
Open Hardware – Prosthetic Hand
© Lead Image © Joerg Michael Gehrke, 123RF.com
In true open hardware spirit, Social Hardware looks to produce a development kit for prosthetic hands to help rural amputees in India.
India has more than half a million upper limb amputees. Most have no hope of a prosthetic, partly because of a world-wide shortage of prosthetic technicians, but mainly because prosthetics start at $30,000, far more than many amputees can afford. In this crisis, any innovative solutions are welcome, and Cameron Norris and Abhit Kumar of Social Hardware [1] are about to launch a crowdfunding campaign to provide one [2]. The campaign will be for the production of a Prosthetic Hand Development Kit, which will allow backers to build a hand for less than $500 – and, Norris hopes, will encourage buyers to donate their results to amputees in India (Figure 1).
Norris' background is in digital marketing. He adds, however, that "I've always gravitated towards design and technology." In pursuing those interests, Norris went to work for Wevolver, a London-based community site for sharing open hardware projects [3]. As part of his work, he documented more than one hundred projects, as well as helping projects with community building and licensing issues, all of which helped him to understand the characteristics of successful open source projects.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Reaches EOL
Linux kernel 6.16 has reached its end of life, which means you'll need to upgrade to the next stable release, Linux kernel 6.17.
-
Amazon Ditches Android for a Linux-Based OS
Amazon has migrated from Android to the Linux-based Vega OS for its Fire TV.
-
Cairo Dock 3.6 Now Available for More Compositors
If you're a fan of third-party desktop docks, then the latest release of Cairo Dock with Wayland support is for you.
-
System76 Unleashes Pop!_OS 24.04 Beta
System76's first beta of Pop!_OS 24.04 is an impressive feat.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 is Available
Linus Torvalds has announced that the latest kernel has been released with plenty of core improvements and even more hardware support.
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.
-
Zorin OS 18 Beta Available for Testing
The latest release from the team behind Zorin OS is ready for public testing, and it includes plenty of improvements to make it more powerful, user-friendly, and productive.
-
Fedora Linux 43 Beta Now Available for Testing
Fedora Linux 43 Beta ships with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.4 (and other goodies).
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.