08/20/2015 Sam Brusco, Associate Editor, @SamISureAm
Click to watch video:
http://www.mdtmag.com/videos/2015/08/five-year-old-girl-robotic-hand-throws-first-pitch-orioles-game?et_cid=4755634&et_rid=280879682&type=cta
Five year old Hailey Dawson was born with Poland Syndrome, a rare birth defect that caused her right hand not to fully develop. But thanks to a 3D-printed prosthetic hand called "Flexy Hand 2" based on customized designs from Robohand, she was able to realize an MLB dream.
Clad in an orange uniform, a custom-made Orioles' themed robotic hand, and pigtails, Hailey took the mound for a Baltimore Orioles game and threw a heater to her favorite baseball player, Orioles' Manny Machado. The hand's mechanism is pretty simple, and is quite advantageous for the budding young pitcher: Hailey flexes her wrist, and cables strung through the prosthetic hand tense and curl the fingers. The story is quite heartwarming - Hailey's mother Yong contacted the Orioles for a meet-up, and the team was more than happy to oblige.
This isn't the first time Hailey has taken the mound. Back in March, Hailey threw the first pitch at a UNLV baseball game. It was actually UNLV's engineering department that used Robohand's design, along with a custom mold of Hailey's hand, to 3D print the prosthetic. Her talent didn't go unnoticed, either; Machado fist bumped her for an excellent pitch. Check out the video below!
Click to watch video:
http://www.mdtmag.com/videos/2015/08/five-year-old-girl-robotic-hand-throws-first-pitch-orioles-game?et_cid=4755634&et_rid=280879682&type=cta
Five year old Hailey Dawson was born with Poland Syndrome, a rare birth defect that caused her right hand not to fully develop. But thanks to a 3D-printed prosthetic hand called "Flexy Hand 2" based on customized designs from Robohand, she was able to realize an MLB dream.
Clad in an orange uniform, a custom-made Orioles' themed robotic hand, and pigtails, Hailey took the mound for a Baltimore Orioles game and threw a heater to her favorite baseball player, Orioles' Manny Machado. The hand's mechanism is pretty simple, and is quite advantageous for the budding young pitcher: Hailey flexes her wrist, and cables strung through the prosthetic hand tense and curl the fingers. The story is quite heartwarming - Hailey's mother Yong contacted the Orioles for a meet-up, and the team was more than happy to oblige.
This isn't the first time Hailey has taken the mound. Back in March, Hailey threw the first pitch at a UNLV baseball game. It was actually UNLV's engineering department that used Robohand's design, along with a custom mold of Hailey's hand, to 3D print the prosthetic. Her talent didn't go unnoticed, either; Machado fist bumped her for an excellent pitch. Check out the video below!