The innovators: the customised robotic hand you can print out at home

Joel Gibbard has developed a method of producing bespoke bionic prostheses for a fraction of the price of similar devices on the market by using a 3D printer

As a teenage hobbyist building robots at home in Bristol, Joel Gibbard had a leftfield thought when pondering his next project. How would he continue to make models if he lost a hand?

"The critical thing to me in continuing to play with robotics and tinker with making things was to use my hands. So I thought it would make sense to make a robotic hand so that in the event I ever lost one, I would continue to use that," he said.