prosthetic leg for low income income in developing countries.
Prosthetic legs are very expensive, between $3000 each, and $500 in maintenance a year. This project looks to create better Prosthetic legs at a fraction of the cost. ($399).
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Click in the image to see the video
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Click in the image to see the interview with user that needs it
Most files are too big for Github. so you can find them:
- https://mega.nz/#F!OVclDbKL!77xSua6xuCMB2h9-fW8Z-w or
- https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_Mum6FcDe3eQ1lUZ2dvOVpZOXc
Quick Story:
As I came back to Ecuador after 5 years of living in Phoenix Arizona, I got an aparment near the office where I was starting LatinoAmericaMedia.com, that allowed me to walk from home to the office, every morning. On my way there sometime I will see Anibal, who as you can see in the videos, is a double amputee. As usual I got intriged about his live, and his story. Turns out we where practically neihbords almos a decade ago. he lived across the street from an old appartment. Now he begs for money on the stop lights to make a living.
As he takes each step you can tell, he is in pain, at least is not easy, becuase his prothesis are, basically two sticks, no knees, no joins, no flexible parts. Just two iron sticks.
I wanted to help, just didnt know how. We started talking about his prosthetic legs, and what I found out blew my mind. Those prosthetic legs, are $3000 each, not only that mantaining them is around $500 a year. And to add injury to insult, they are not that great as you can see.
At that time, I was learning about 3d printing in my free time and was sure that I could make something way better, and cheaper. Not only that I know we can add sensors and microprossesors to keep track pressure, steps,... hell! even calories consume.
But didnt know what it would take. Here is a little description of that journey. I sharing all the files, designs, etc. And there is a lot of work to do still, like calculating tention, whats the cheapes materials we can do it with?, create molds, is aluminium sand casting an option for certain pieces?, etc.
I put the project a side because I couldnt find a non-expensive knee to add to the probe of concept. I only found 1 company ReMotion, d-rev.org. I would call and email but never got an answer. I even sent a message through linked in to a founder... nothing. Until 2 weeks ago (Jul 21, 2017) I finally got an answer. They mentioned that they where planning to get the knees in production on the next couple of week. Wish me luck.
note: I looked around for different prosthetics we could 3d print and decided to chose: https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/mechanical-prosthetic-leg-foot-3d-max/868537 However we had to make a lot of changes to the design to make it feasible to 3d print. Im adding those 3d printable files in this project (just be carefull with the measurements) other designs that I considered where: http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-leg-prosthesis/970716 http://www.turbosquid.com/Search/Index.cfm?keyword=prosthetic http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/prosthetic-leg-3d-max/999808 http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/mechanical-prosthetic-leg-foot-3d-max/868537 https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/science-medical/medical/prosthetic-leg-high-tech http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-max-prosthetic-leg-rigged/999807
If you are intrested in other kind of projects like this I suggest looking at:
- Kieran's Hand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBz8qZOTUL4 and
- How to Take Hand Measurements and Scale an e-NABLE Hand in Blender https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWRIi4bRGHs
- read this paper for understanding protesis http://ltu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1072530/FULLTEXT02.pdf *3D Printing Enabling War Torn Communities – Robohand and Project Daniel (Not Impossible Labs) https://robohand.blogspot.com/?v=WT3772yhr0o
- How to Make a Prosthetic Leg : How to Set a Plastic Bag for Lamination - Prosthetics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9LSMmWyCmU&list=PL2D80AFF0BFBDE233
- Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krs5zpSvOuE
- How to DIY your own shape memory foam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxdDpNdtwzo *A $50 3D-Printed Prosthesis Compared to a $42,000 Myoelectric Prosthesis (3D Universe) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkK06113IGE&feature=youtu.be