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A 3D Printer and A Humanitarian Heart Equals Limbs That Now Work

Published

4 years ago

July 14, 2020

Guillermo Martinez is an industrial engineer who started Ayudame3D, an organization that gives out prostheses to people who cannot afford it.
Ayudame3D has now given 50 artificial limbs to people from different countries around the world.
Guillermo has also started teaching children to use the 3D printing machine and hopes these children learn how to make prostheses, too.

What started out as fun for an engineer has now provided limbs for those who cannot afford it. Industrial engineer Guillermo Martinez, 24, bought a 3D printing machine in 2017. Browsing YouTube for fun ways to use it and with his interest in robotics, he stumbled on a prosthetic making tutorial.

As Guillermo told Insider, “I started making many 3D-printed hand prostheses. Then I thought to myself, ‘what if this can actually help someone?”

It just so happened that he was about to leave for Kenya and so he asked NGO Bamba Project if there would be a use for his 3D printer and got astounded by the response from people who needed prostheses. Getting one is expensive and a lot of people cannot afford it.

The light-weight, plastic limbs weigh just 22 pounds and costs only $50 to make. But even at that price, Kenyans still cannot buy the artificial limbs as 36 percent of Kenyans live below the poverty line according to the World Bank. Guillermo decided to give it for free.

Guillermo realized that this could be his way to change lives by providing the needed prostheses. He then went on to organize his project, Ayudame3D (Help Me 3D).

From Kenya, Ayudame3D has already given 50 prostheses to people all over the world. Countries like Chad, El Salvador, Morocco, Spain, and Tanzania have already received artificial limbs for their citizens.

Guillermo now teaches children in using the 3D printers in the hope that they would be able to make the artificial limbs for others through Ayudame3D kids.

From just having fun, Guillermo has now become a humanitarian and a hero for those who have regained their ability to move with their artificial limbs.