THAT'S A DANG USEFUL SHOWER RING:

When Ben Ryan's son Sol was born, an injury during delivery led to a blood clot in his arm--and at the age of 10 days, the arm had to be amputated. After Sol left the hospital, the new parents learned that he couldn't get a prosthetic until he was a year old, and he probably couldn't get one that would let him grab or hold anything until he was three. [...]

At his kitchen table, Ryan--who is not an engineer, but likes building things--began mocking up a design for a device that would be light, attractive, customizable, and possible to introduce at a very young age, without parts that could cause a choking hazard.

Inspired by the way spiders' legs move through hydraulics, Ryan created a design for an arm filled with fluid that could open and close a gripping mechanism as the arm moves. At an innovation lab at a university near his home in the U.K., he 3D printed an early prototype. After watching videos online, he taught himself how to use Autodesk's free Fusion 360 software, and he refined the design.

The result is a prosthetic that can eventually be custom-designed for children and 3D printed within three days, versus the 10 weeks that it can take to get a custom prosthetic in the British health system currently. It will also be much cheaper. 

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