3D printed wheelchair racing glove made using a white hard plastic with green duct tape securing a leather pad to the top of the glove. There is white medical tape attached all over the surface of the glove. This glove was invented by para athlete Arielle Rausin by replicating one she had laboriously molded by hand using melted plastic pellets. The printed gloves fit well and were considerably cheaper and easier to fabricate. When Rausin found this prototype glove withstood the rigors of training, she used it to race the 2015 Boston Marathon. The 3D printed glove was hard yet ultra-lightweight, qualities which improved Rausin’s technique, reduced impact and fatigue to her hand, and helped her race faster.
In 2003, Rausin, then 10 years old, was in a catastrophic car accident that paralyzed her from the waist down. She began wheelchair racing in 2012 and became a member of the Paralympic wheelchair racing team. As a college student enrolled in a maker class, Rausin, with inspiration and encouragement from coach Adam Bleakney, fulfilled a course assignment by replicating her handmade pair of $350 racing gloves. As a result of her success using this prototype as well as her teammates’ who also benefited in competition from using gloves she had custom fabricated for them, Rausin founded Ingenium Manufacturing in 2016 to produce 3D printed racing gloves for wheelchair athletes.