 Prosthetic CAD Design UT BIOME’s two project teams have been working hard to deliver their prototypes by the end of the year. With so much progress, we thought now would be a good time to bring you up to speed.
Our first project is a low-cost, pediatric, above-knee leg prosthesis (see image to left). For families with children requiring an above-knee prosthetic, it can be costly for them to upgrade their prosthetic as their child grows; especially if they live in an impoverished area without healthcare. The purpose of this project is to alleviate this issue with a modular prosthetic which can expand in height and width with the user’s growth. In addition, we will be equipping sensors to the device to measure the number of steps the user has taken and the angular velocity of the prosthetic foot. Over the past couple months we have completed the research and conceptual design phases for this project. Currently, we are in the middle of constructing a preliminary prototype of a regular above-knee leg prosthesis. We will then analyze it and build a final prototype for the culminating design review with some of the University’s biomedical engineering professors. This project will be continued this Summer and the 2019/2020 school year to adapt the design to fulfill its pediatric requirement. UT BIOME’s second project this year is a rehabilitative patch for the wrist. After surgeries, repeated visits to clinicians is recommended to track rehabilitation and treatment progression. The patch is meant to reduce the need for as many repeated visits by measuring the range of motion of the ankle/wrist and transfer this data to a third party app for practitioners to view. In addition, the design includes the application of loads to the hand to help develop strength. We have completed our research phase and have finished our conceptual design for this project. In the next couple months we will be building and testing the prototype to the end goal of presenting the device to industry and university officials. If you would be interested in participating, please see my contact information below. Both of these projects have been sponsored by Accuhealth and Evelyn for their sensor purchases to make them “smart” devices capable of third party telemonitoring software integration. Check back on February 12th for our next blog post which will discuss our sponsorship in more depth. Best, Timothy Samson, Director of Business Operations & Finance If you’d like to contact Timothy or partner with/sponsor the design team, reach out to him at timothy.samson@mail.utoronto.ca or on his LinkedIn here. Additionally, you can read our previous blog post here. Although five months is a short period of time, we have been lucky enough to have had many successes. We recruited 18 members, became ULife recognized, and received our first sponsor, Accuhealth. Accuhealth, combined with the university's investment, allowed our first two projects to be fully funded. We also became a recognized club with the University of Toronto Engineering Society.
What started as Danny, Michael, and myself conversing over Google Hangouts has become a key part in our lives and the lives of our members. For their hard work, we’d like to first thank our members. There are 24 design teams and countless clubs at the University of Toronto, many of which have been around for many years, but you took a chance on us and we hope that you are as happy as we are with the results so far. Next, we’d like to thank Accuhealth. Accuhealth has sponsored all of our sensor purchases for our projects, allowing them to be “smart” devices able to interact with the Evelyn telemonitoring platform. We wish them well in their endeavors and look forward to working with them on future projects. Lastly, we’d like to thank the Engineering Society, ULife, and the University of Toronto’s Engineering Faculty on whole. Their financial and administrative assistance in the birth of our design team was crucial, and we would not be operating without them. In the coming months, we look forward to finishing our two projects, recruiting for a third project, and seeking more sponsorship. Best, Timothy Samson, Director of Business Operations & Finance If you’d like to contact Timothy or partner with/sponsor the design team, reach out to him at timothy.samson@mail.utoronto.ca or on his LinkedIn here. |
