8-Year-Old with 3D-Printed Hand Throws Opening Pitch for Red Sox on #Journeyto30

This post originally appeared on the Navigate the Future blog.


Eight-year-old Hailey Dawson has made waves in the world of Major League Baseball (MLB), thanks to the work of her new prosthetic 3D-printed hand.

According to Sports Illustrated, Dawson was born with a birth defect where she’s missing three fingers on her throwing hand – a condition known as Poland Syndrome. The prosthetic hand was engineered by students and professors at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas and 3D-printed by Stratasys. The hand, branded by the University as “Robohand”, simply opens and closes with a flick of the wrist.

With her new 3D-printed hand, Dawson was determined to pitch at all 30 MLB stadiums. And like other MLB teams, the Red Sox were ready to be a part of Dawson’s #Journeyto30. She’s already pitched at 20 stadiums so far – with another 10 to go – and the time has finally come for Dawson to pitch with the Red Sox at Fenway Park on July 12, getting her one step closer to completing the #Journeyto30.

Check out Hailey’s customized Red Sox prosthetic hand!


To read more about 3D-printed prosthetic limbs, you can check out our blog post here.

Katie Corey

Katie is the Editor of the SIMULIA blog and also manages SIMULIA's social media and is an online communities and SEO expert. As a writer and technical communicator, she is interested in and passionate about creating an impactful user experience. Katie has a BA in English and Writing from the University of Rhode Island and a MS in Technical Communication from Northeastern University. She is also a proud SIMULIA advocate, passionate about democratizing simulation for all audiences. Katie is a native Rhode Islander and loves telling others about all it has to offer. As a self-proclaimed nerd, she enjoys a variety of hobbies including history, astronomy, science/technology, science fiction, geocaching, true crime, fashion and anything associated with nature and the outdoors. She is also mom to a 2-year old budding engineer and two crazy rescue pups.