“One Hand Is One Life” – EnHands Brings Prosthetic Hands to Bangladesh

Text: Susanne Hoecht; Images: EnHands e.V.

From Development in Munich to Application on Site

What begins with workshops and development environments in Munich can have an impact far beyond the campus. The student initiative EnHands, founded in 2022 and now registered as a non-profit association, develops affordable hand prostheses for people in low-income countries. Recently, a five-member team traveled to Bangladesh to adapt prostheses with patients as part of a prosthetics camp organized by the partner organization Naya Qadam and to evaluate them under real-world conditions.

“In Europe, we are mainly familiar with high-tech prostheses. They are technically impressive, but for most people worldwide simply unaffordable,” explains Julia Veloso de Oliveira, research associate and board member of EnHands. The goal of the association, which consists largely of students from the TUM School of Engineering and Design, is therefore to close this gap with robust, simple, and, in the long term, locally producible hand prostheses.

Collaboration with Experienced Partners

The effort was made possible through close cooperation with the humanitarian organization Naya Qadam, which has been organizing prosthetics camps worldwide for more than 20 years, primarily focusing on lower-limb prostheses. In Bangladesh, the EnHands members worked side by side with local technicians and medical professionals. While Naya Qadam was responsible for organizing the camp, selecting patients, and adapting the prosthetic sockets, EnHands contributed with a range of hand prostheses.

Two cosmetic prosthetic models were distributed and one functional prototype was evaluated during the camp. One cosmetic option is a very lightweight 3D-printed hand without an active gripping function. In addition, EnHands developed a silicone hand that can be reshaped into different positions using heat, providing limited passive functionality, such as holding simple objects. For the first time, a functional hand prototype was also successfully tested with a patient. This marked an important milestone for the EnHands team.

In total, 14 people received a hand prosthesis during the stay. “We didn’t bring back a single unused prosthesis,” says Veloso de Oliveira. Many of those affected had been living without any form of support for years, and some had previously been promised help that never materialized.

Unexpected Insights on Site

Direct patient feedback proved particularly influential for the team. Tayyaba Qaisar, a research associate at the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (TUM MIRMI), accompanied the trip as a translator and played a central role in systematically collecting user feedback. “We arrived with many assumptions and realized that some of them were simply not correct.”

The team had expected that realistic-looking silicone hands would be especially popular. Instead, many patients preferred the simpler and lighter 3D-printed versions. Functionality often played a secondary role. “For many, it was crucial not to attract attention in everyday life and not to be stared at,” Qaisar explains. How a patient perceives their own prosthetic hand can affect their sense of dignity, self-confidence, and social participation.

These insights fundamentally changed the engineers’ perspective on their own work. What might initially seem too simple from a European viewpoint can already make a significant difference in everyday life elsewhere.

Between Technology and Life Reality

In addition to technical challenges, such as adapting prostheses to different amputation levels, it was, above all, the personal encounters that left a lasting impression on the team. Children who had lost limbs in workplace accidents. Young people who withdrew from social situations due to shame. Parents hope that a prosthesis would enable their children to participate more confidently in social life.

“It was emotionally very demanding,” says Veloso de Oliveira. “You always want to help more than you can.”

Implications for the Future Work of EnHands

The trip to Bangladesh not only provided impressions but also concrete impulses for further development. These include new design priorities, finer variations in size and color, and a stronger focus on reducing weight and improving wearing comfort.

“We now have solid data, direct user feedback, and a much better understanding of real needs,” Qaisar summarizes. “This will shape our work in the long term.”

A hand is more than a technical solution. For many people, it means new independence, greater self-confidence, and changed perspectives for everyday life.