A Sustainable & Biologically Inspired Prosthetic Hand for Healthcare

There are many persons in the world affected by amputation. Upper limb amputations require high cost prosthetic devices in order to provide significant motor recovery. We propose a sustainable design and control of a new anthropomorphic prosthetic hand: all components are modular and exchangeable and they can be assembled by non-expert users. Phalanges & articulations of the fingers and the palm are manufactured via a 3D printing process in Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) or Polyactic Acid (PLA) materials. The design is optimized in order to provide human-like motion and grasping taxonomy through linear actuators and flexion tendon mechanisms, which are embedded within the palm. HardWare (HW) and Software (SW) open sourced units for ElectroMyography (EMG) input and control can be combined with a user-friendly and intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI) to enable amputees handling the prosthesis. To reduce the environmental impact of the device lifetime cycle, the material and energy consumption were optimized by adopting: simple design & manufacturing, high dexterity, open source HW and SW, low cost components, anthropomorphic design

Section Abstracts: Biomedical and General Engineering

Abstracts of the Biomedical and General Engineering Section for the 94th Annual Virginia Academy of Science Meeting, May 18-20, 2016, at University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA

EPSRC IMPACT Exhibition

This exhibition was conceived by Dunne (PI) and comprised 16 mixed-media speculative design research projects. It marked the culmination of an EPSRC-funded initiative also partly supported by NESTA. Dunne supervised and then curated the projects by staff, graduates and students of the RCA Design Interactions programme. Each was conducted in collaboration with an external research partner organisation already supported by the EPSRC. The topics covered ranged from renewable energy devices and security technologies to the emerging fields of synthetic biology and quantum computing. Dunne and an advisory panel from EPSRC and NESTA selected themes on the basis of diversity of topic, design opportunities, intellectual and creative challenges, and public relevance. Dunne invited the designers to take a radical, interrogative approach, exploring the social, ethical and political implications of the research. Each designer visited the relevant science lab, consulted with the scientists throughout the project, and participated in a one-day workshop hosted by NESTA between scientists and designers on such forms of collaboration. Designers carried out literature, journal, and project surveys before developing their projects through iterative prototypes. The exhibition, held at the RCA in 2010, was considered by EPSRC to offer a powerful insight into how today’s research might transform our experience of the world. It was reviewed in the Guardian (2010), Wired (2010) and Design Week (2010). Dunne presented ‘IMPACT!’ in conferences including the IDA Congress, ‘Design at the Edges’, Taipei (2011) and at the Wellcome Trust, London (2011). He gave a related lecture to researchers at Microsoft Research Asia, Beijing (2011). Individual exhibits from the project featured in exhibitions: Museum of Modern Art (2011), National Museum of China (2011); Z33 (2010–11); Wellcome Trust (2010–11); Saint-Étienne International Design Biennial (2010); Ars Electronica (2010); The Times Cheltenham Science Festival (2010); and V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media (2010)

Somethings About Biological Prostheses

Finite element models of the female biofidel were developed using a specific combination of segmentation with computed tomography and solid modeling tools capable of representing bone physiology and structural behavior. This biofidel finite element (FEM) model is used to evaluate the change in the physiological distribution of stress in the femoral prosthesis and to evaluate the new design criteria for biopsy. Biomimetics, biomechanics, and tissue engineering are three multidisciplinary fields that have been considered in this research to achieve the goal of improving the reliability of prosthetic implants. The authors took these studies to gather the untapped potential of such advanced materials and design technologies by developing finite models of Biofidel elements capable of correctly mimicking the biomechanical behavior of the femur. The new remodeling of the tetrahedral elements was performed in 3Matic looking for the congruence of the node at the bone-implant interfaces, where the material was defined for the new configuration of the finite elements. The evaluation of the mechanical properties was made taking into account the mechanical characteristics of the cortical and trabecular bone. For biomechanical integration of the implant, a custom material with an improved combination of strength and rigidity that matches the bone should be used. This greater biomechanical compatibility will avoid weakening the implant and increase lifespan, avoiding additional surgery for revision and allowing good biological integration (bone growth). Innovative biomimetic materials for tissue engineering based on hydrophilic polymers were developed by our research group and presented attractive physical, biological, and mechanical properties for biomedical applications. For use with metal prostheses, the authors have developed a hybrid biocompatible material, extremely biocompatible, based on hydrophilic chemicals and hydroxy-ethyl-methacrylate type. The structural metal composition of the new prostheses will be made of titanium alloys using additive technology based on melting thin layers of titanium powder (about 50 microns) on each other until the desired component is obtained (sandwich method). Then, the biomaterial and osteoconductive nanostructured material developed in our previous studies can cover the titanium structural prosthetic skeleton. These hybrid biological prostheses, which are made using synthetic materials capable of inducing the growth of biological networks and structural steel scaffolding, may favor the emergence of new classes of orthopedic hybrids in the medical field. The new hybrid bio-prosthesis could drastically reduce protection against stress while providing an advantageous improvement in the life of the prosthesis compared to traditional solutions. Recovering optimal joint functionality will improve the patient's quality of life, which perceives a significant reduction in the risk of the new surgery. The requirement to predict potential structural changes that could be induced by improper use of biologically compatible prostheses in bone structure and morphology has forced our studies to evaluate fictitious models that could be considered for efficient bone distribution and orthotropic behavior

14th Annual Symposium of the School of Science, Engineering and Health

Welcome to the 14th Annual Symposium of the School of Science, Engineering and Health. This event continues a strong tradition showcasing student and faculty innovation, creativity and productivity in academic departments largely from within the School of Science, Engineering and Health

A low-cost Human-Robot Interface for the Motion Planning of Robotic Hands

This paper outlines the design and development process of producing the prototype for the Robotic hand and glove controller with a focus on the design and construction process and emphasis on potential use and future projects. The primary concept of the project is that a user with the control glove can control the prosthetic arm and although the prototype has limited use it creates a good foundation for understanding the basic principles of complex prosthetic arms in terms of design and control, as well as the flex measurement glove demonstrating a wearable control system with further application use

Introduction: Crafting anatomies

Crafting Anatomies places the human body at the center of a transdisciplinary exploration, revealing how it acts as a catalyst for craft-based collaborative research, using archives, creative dialogues, and technologically advanced fabrications. As the book demonstrates, nothing happens without collaboration in fashion and textiles, which involves intense, creative dialogues at all stages of the process (Anderson 2017). Increasingly, this applies to all contemporary artistic design practice—where the tradition of the “isolated auteur” and mastery of a specific discipline is challenged by the provocative and disruptive nature of information and technology (Mower 2017). This collection of illustrated narratives seeks to highlight how critical making and conversation around the contemporary body is manifest through a range of material and immaterial responses. The contributors, drawn from a network of creative thinkers and practitioners based in Europe, North America, and Oceania, exploit methodologies that resonate with wider transnational philosophies, “[paying] no attention to the boundaries between fine and applied art, high and low culture, gendered and racial identity, let alone, fashion, textiles and craft”1 (Hemmings 2015: 157). So, through the shared lens of crafting anatomies, researcher/practitioners in materials (textiles) and product (fashion) design are united with artists, writers, scientists, and curators to demonstrate how their/our response to the corporeal is constantly flexing and changing

Conducting Polymers as Elements of Miniature Biocompatible Sensor

Conducting polymers (CPs), the so-called “fourth generation of polymeric materials”, can solve essential problems in biosensing technologies due to their unique material properties and implementation in innovative device systems. CPs have excellent biocompatibility. They can provide advantageous interfaces for bioelectrodes owing to their hybrid conducting mechanics, combining both electron and ionic charge carriers. Many (i.e. glucose) biosensors use immobilized enzymes to form a selective layer on CP structure. Miniaturization of sensors is a new requirement. Mini sensors are portable and wearable with low utilization of sample and cost-effective technology of production

Plant secondary metabolite-derived polymers: a potential approach to develop antimicrobial films

The persistent issue of bacterial and fungal colonization of artificial implantable materials and the decreasing efficacy of conventional systemic antibiotics used to treat implant-associated infections has led to the development of a wide range of antifouling and antibacterial strategies. This article reviews one such strategy where inherently biologically active renewable resources, i.e., plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) and their naturally occurring combinations (i.e., essential oils) are used for surface functionalization and synthesis of polymer thin films. With a distinct mode of antibacterial activity, broad spectrum of action, and diversity of available chemistries, plant secondary metabolites present an attractive alternative to conventional antibiotics. However, their conversion from liquid to solid phase without a significant loss of activity is not trivial. Using selected examples, this article shows how plasma techniques provide a sufficiently flexible and chemically reactive environment to enable the synthesis of biologically-active polymer coatings from volatile renewable resources