Andrej Đukić, a young product designer from Dubrovnik, has been named the modern Robin Hood thanks to his prosthetic Maker Hand project that wowed the world. Not only is his creativity enviable, but his passion and altruism are simply of the charts.
This talented 29-year old happens to be the winner of the prestigious world competition ‘Cybathlon’, one might say Olympics for prosthetic aids, organized by ETH Zurich, one of the best technical universities in the world.
Convinced that the prices for prosthetic hands are unreasonably high, from 10 to 100 thousand euros, his goal is to create an online platform on which volunteers around the world would make prostheses for people with disabilities – for free. Working on a simple 3D printer worth only 1,500 Kuna, in one afternoon, he can make a whole prosthesis.
“People ask me how I will make money from this project. As if that was the main idea. That is a completely wrong way of thinking,” the young inventor told Dnevnik.hr.
In exactly 5 minutes and 44 seconds, the Maker Hand team covered the entire polygon at this year’s ‘Cybathlon’. They were a full minute ahead of their Italian rival, the favourite of the competition.
“I’m still very much under the emotions, like I’m still in the competition! The most important thing for me was to gain credibility, the confirmation that this really is the best prosthesis in the world,” adds Andrej decisively.
“Now the plan is to make a platform, a global platform on the internet, where volunteers will be able to connect with people who don’t have hands and make hands for people around the world donating them completely free of charge. At the end of the day, I fight for those who can’t fight for themselves. If that makes me an outlaw, then so be it,” Andrej concludes.
