Double amputee Flippie Engelbrecht will be fitted with mechanical hands which he hopes will afford him some independence.
|||Cape Town - Double amputee Flippie Engelbrecht attached sticks to his forearms with elastic last week to imagine what it would feel like to have mechanical hands.
Yesterday, a smiling Engelbrecht, who is blind, carefully felt the plastic fingers, strings and metal that will be turned into two mechanical Robohands for him later this week.
The 19-year-old is set to receive the mechanical hands from non-profit organisation Robohand.
Engelbrecht, who had both hands amputated after falling into a cooking fire in late 2009, met Robohand’s Richard van As in Hermanus on Tuesday to be measured for the customised mechanical devices.
The plastic hands, which are attached to a moulded “glove” worn on the forearm and elbow, will be finished by tomorrow or Friday, when Engelbrecht will be able to try them out.
“I feel very excited about the new hands,” he said.
“I will be able to make my own food, pick up my own cup of coffee, go to the toilet and change the TV and my radio.”
Van As, who has created more than 100 mechanical devices for amputees and people born without hands since early 2011, agreed to create and donate the hands after learning of Engelbrecht’s plight.
He said he started building mechanical hands after losing four fingers on his right hand in an accident in 2011.
“I was put in a position where I had no fingers and I decided to do something about it. When I cut my own fingers off, I thought I would make something good out of something bad.”
In collaboration with his American colleague, Ivan Owen, Van As designed the mechanical hands, drawing on his experience as a carpenter.
Yesterday, under the watchful eyes of Engelbrecht’s parents, Van As traced an outline of Engelbrecht’s forearms on paper, which he will use to create the plastic “glove” that will fit snugly on the youngster’s forearms.
Once the moulds are complete Van As will attach a “mechanical hand” - printed on a 3D printer - to the glove.
The device is anatomically-driven, said Van As, meaning Engelbrecht will control the hands by moving his arms.
“When you move your elbow forward it moves a string that opens and closes the hand.”
The devices do not use batteries or electronics.
The materials for each Robohand cost R15 000, or R30 000 for two.
The time it took to become accustomed to the devices varied from person to person, said Van As.
“Right off the bat you get gross motor skills.
“For the fine motor skills you have to teach yourself. Practice makes perfect.”
He said Engelbrecht should be able to learn how to grip and pick up a cup soon, but would need practice to pick up something small, such as a toothpick.
Carina Papenfus, of the farmworkers rights group the Freedom Trust, said a Hermanus occupational therapist had offered to help Engelbrecht learn to use the hands.
The two Robertson farmers accused of assaulting the then 15-year-old Engelbrecht and his father Flip Engelbrecht in 2008 will appear in the Ashton Magistrate’s Court on August 28 for a date to be set for the start of the case in the regional court.
jan.cronje@inl.co.za
Cape Times