Printable Prosthesis

I am a biomedical engineering student at the University of Michigan and I want to incorporate 3D printing into my senior design project.

I would like to design a printable prosthesis that could be designed and printed rapidly in developing countries where custom prostheses are rare and expensive. I am in the process of researching which prosthesis would be best suited to RepRap printing. I am also looking for professors here at UofM to help with the medical aspects of the design.

Is anyone interested in helping out? I've never built a RepRap and--as much as I want to--I would rather focus on prosthesis design than building the printer.

(*The first step in this project will be to determine the mechanical properties of printed objects. has this already been done?)

I got your email about that and was composing a reply.

Here is the Michigan RepRap User Group:
[groups.google.com]

Here is the open prosthetics group.
[openprosthetics.org]
I'd suggest getting in touch with them. At the same time, I'd suggest keeping your comms/development in this thread and in the wiki.

Are you thinking about a lower limb or upper limb prosthetic?

Also, what materials are you planning on using? (I assume you have access to a CNC mill for steel, and so on.)

Are you thinking of purely thermoplastic, or printing a lightweight core which one then wraps with carbon fiber, or something else?

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Here is a RepRap wiki 'stub page' I did up:
[reprap.org]
Please log in and edit it until it corresponds with your vision for the project. Inasmuch as you're the working group convener.
(You are welcome to create your own wiki page if you would rather do that.)

Also, once you and other folk in here are ready, let me know and I'll help do up a blog post to draw in attention, and possibly a web-banner.

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

Zaking17, I'll print some parts for you. Let me know what you need, email me at wbortz @ gmail dot com. One of my Darwins is set up with a 1 mm nozzle, which is much more effective for building larger parts. I did a bit of work on accelerometer based sensors for prosthetics with Ossur a few years ago.

Wade

That's kind of you Wade.

Thank you,

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

(Thanks Wade!)

Progress Update:

We have decided that our goal will be to design a printable prosthetic socket for a lower-limb prosthesis. (see here)

Last week I met with an orthotist at the UM Orthopedics and Prosthetics Center. He has agreed to collaborate on the design of the prosthetic socket. The UMOPC has an Omega Tracer, a 3D scanner that can quickly create a CAD model of a patient's stub. We will be using this scanner as a starting point for our design.

We are also preparing the necessary documentation to carry out a patient study with the final product of our design.


As for the design, we will experiment with an all-polymer socket but we also have the equipment to lay up carbon-fiber components. I wonder, is it possible to incorporate a strengthening component (e.g. wire mesh) within a printed object?

Also, are there any extra-large RepRaps out in the wild? These sockets might be slightly longer than 200mm.

Also, are there any extra-large RepRaps out in the wild? These sockets might be slightly longer than 200mm.

Not to my knowledge.

As for the design, we will experiment with an all-polymer socket but we also have the equipment to lay up carbon-fiber components. I wonder, is it possible to incorporate a strengthening component (e.g. wire mesh) within a printed object?

Yes and no.

The SpoolHead team got that to "hello world".
[reprap.org]
[reprap.org]

This is an important part of the "coal face" to work on; if you or any other students are looking for a sexy theisis project.

Dany Lipsker, of Micromod Technologies figured all that stuff out a few years ago:
[reprap.org]
but that tech is not part of our "codebase" yet. I'd suggest pinging him for more info; he's a good sort who wants to help.

Have you got your parts in, by the way?

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

This is a great project. I think prosthetics is an interesting back-door way to introduce these technologies to countries like Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan. I want to see develop a coalition of US military veterans (as I am one), VA doctors, students, Engineers W/O Borders, activists, so forth, build an online community dedicated to developing these prosthetics. What makes it so interesting is that we have thousands of potential participants here (as modern warfare tends to maim as much as murder), who might be willing to experiment with their own bodies. We'd then be able to deploy these technologies to these poor communities across the world, spreading ever-cheapening prosthetics, simultaneously spreading open source rapid replication technologies where they're needed most, and helping veterans with closure, giving them a sense of reason/hope.

A few years ago I took an Industrial Design History class where a student who had been in a wheelchair his whole life gave a presentation on the evolution of the wheelchair, starting back in the Vietnam era, when disabled veterans were often given these temporary wheelchairs on a longterm basis, and took to modifying them to suit their new lifestyles. It was a pretty amazing presentation.

Please keep this thread alive, keep us informed, or email me directly to let me know how your project is progressing. I will help with what I can.

Update:

This project is still alive, though it's been dormant for a couple months. We are currently picking the team of students who will work on this next semester. We have created a research proposal; we are submitting the IRB application soon to gain approval for a patient study next year; and we are applying for grants.

If anyone else is interested in collaborating, or if you want to contact me personally, feel free to email zaking17 at gmail dot com.


Ike: Thanks for the support.

Sebastien: We won't be needing actual parts for a few months still.

I'm a 4th year Industrial Design Student at RMIT university Melbourne, Australia. I've just completed a project which deals with the possibility of using Open-source machines such as the Reprap to fabricate prosthetic sockets and other components. I've just started to put parts of my project out there and will soon be releasing complete documentation of all the work I have done through channels like the Open Prosthetics Project ( group link here) as well as certain relevant 3d files through Thingiverse (link here).

I'd be happy to contribute to any ongoing collaborative work which may happen and would be more than willing to share the information with anyone who is interested.

Feel free to contact me through yousseftayeb@gmail.com or visit my blog (still under heavy construction) at www.ytid.wordpress.com

Hi, I am trying to build face musk with 3D printer. We got a Omega Tracer 3D scanner. But unfortunately, the Omega software is not available. I am trying to use it. Can I configure the scanner with other software. We got Polyworks ,AutoCAD and SolidWorks available.

This is very usefully for me!

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