The University of Central Florida (UCF) has established the Center for Applied Biomedical Additive Manufacturing (CABAM), an interdisciplinary research facility and a marketplace to provide standardized, cost-effective, innovative, creative, and functional biomedical solutions. The center formalizes UCF’s relationship with the nonprofit Limbitless Solutions, founded in 2014 when UCF engineering doctoral student Albert Manero, MSAE, and his team created a 3D-printed robotic upper-limb prosthesis for then-six-year-old Alex Pring. The partnership will expand Limbitless’ efforts to foster collaboration among world-renowned scientists, medical doctors, and engineers in additive manufacturing, according to UCF.
The UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science and the UCF College of Medicine will provide space, faculty mentors, and expertise to CABAM. UCF’s Venture Accelerator and the Office of Technology Transfer will facilitate the process of taking new discoveries made at the center to commercial development.
Limbitless Solutions received international attention after sharing the instructions to replicate its prosthesis design online, and again when actor Robert Downey Jr., featured Pring and Manero in a video on his Facebook page delivering an Iron Man-themed prosthetic arm to Pring.
