Amputees suffering from a loss of a physical upper-limb, due to accidents or disease, have limited capability to perform many activities of daily living (ADL). Conventionally, prosthetics are either aesthetic to imitate the looks of a human hand, or functional to assist in performing daily activities. Functional prosthetics can range from grasping devices with limited functionality to very expensive anthropomorphic hands and fingers that cannot be widely used. Through this project, we are hoping to address a few social issues: The inequalities experienced by amputees and those with finger disabilities through improving their quality of lifeRaising student’s social responsibility and knowledge of STEM skills by inviting them in the development of the different prosthetic tool.Sharing the tools to a Tool library for the PHAB community and other amputees, building a society that has a greater inclusion and understanding of positive societal values.

Recently, our team has developed a novel upper-limb prosthetics platform where interchangeable task-specific tools can be connected to the amputee’s stump. Interchanging tools that are dedicated for a specific task, such as violin playing, rope skipping, badminton or chopping using a knife, result in simpler, lighter, more robust and more economical prosthetics. We are hoping to develop more tools for different purpose that helps to maintain the quality of life of different amputees. In addition, we would also be inviting different university and secondary school students in the development and testing of prosthetic tools for out participating amputees by organizing programs and workshop through collaboration with different parties. Last but not least, we would also be sharing the experience of this project through educational videos and photos online, forming a community and library for the modular prosthetic tool.

Improving the quality of life of the participating subjects within this project, by increasing the range of daily activities and interests that they can perform. At the same time, Increases the knowledge in prosthesis development, mechanical design skills of students. Last but not least, allowing the general public to also understand the journey of the amputee subjects and prosthetics development.

1.  Expanding the range of tools by covering different aspects:

     Household work - such as cleaning, ironing, cooking, taking care of children, tools to fix appliances.

     Leisure activities - such as reading, painting, sculpturing, playing instruments

     Sports activities - such as riding a bike, archery, rowing, swimming

     Work environments - such as using a mouse, holding presenters and microphones, labelling tapes

2.  Raising the awareness of the public for amputees and other patients with finger disabilities

3.  Developing the engineering and development skills (CAD drawing, 3D printing, mechanism optimization) of university and secondary school

4.  Building a tool library and community for people all around the world, bringing them closer together and allowing them to access download and 3D print

2022

Healthcare, HealthTech, Well-being