Gino Tubaro, an electronic engineering student and U.S. National Youth Science Camp alumnus from Buenos Aires, Argentina, wanted to help people.
So the 17-year-old and his team at Darwin Research explored using 3-D printers to create low-cost prosthetics, which would otherwise be expensive and difficult to import.
One of their first designs was made for an 11-year-old boy born without a left hand. Tubaro’s team worked with 3-D printer templates from Thingiverse to create the prosthetic hand. Clarín, an Argentine newspaper, sponsored Tubaro’s trip to deliver the hand more than 460 kilometers from the capital to the town of Tres Algarrobos.
Between hugs and tears of joy, the young boy accepted his new hand. After the visit, Darwin Research and 3D Lab Fab & Café, a café in Buenos Aires that allows guests to use 3-D printers, posted an interest form on their websites for people in need of 3-D–printed prosthetics. Within 24 hours, they received more than 100 applications.
The U.S. Embassy in Argentina sponsored the participation of Tubaro and two other Argentine students in the 2013 National Youth Science Camp. The camp welcomes international students from Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago.