Personalizing Prosthetics

The disfigurations that result in the need for prosthetic limbs either from natural or outside causes, such as birth defects or accidents/injuries respectively, are often unfortunately viewed negatively by society. While prosthetics can help to return lost function to the user the unfamiliar shape and appearance can often still make the limb feel alien or unnatural. As Scott Summit explains and demonstrates in a presentation at TEDxCambridge [1] just by giving back the form of the missing limb you are able to make a prosthetic personal again, and by further adapting and designing the prosthetic to the user you truly make it an extension of them and who they are. By doing this and not trying to hide or mask the prosthetic for what it is, you are able to go from a prosthetic being viewed as a sign of ill-health or weakness into it being seen as an extension of the person using it. In the discussion Scott mentions a soccer player who had a custom prosthetic and once he had it, his team mates stopped viewing him as someone with an amputation.

Another key aspect mentioned in the above video is that advances in 3D printing allow for us to make these customizations and personal touches for much cheaper costs then what they were before. Previous forms of manufacturing could only mass produce one to a few versions of a product, however as Scott mentions in his discussion, soon the technology will allow us to take a camera and use it as a portable 3D scanner to create personalized 3D printed prosthetics from anywhere in the world for much cheaper than traditional manufacturing costs. If you wish to see videos of 3D printing in action or what it is I recommend watching this video [2] on the Youtube channel testedcom where they break down what 3D printing is, how the models are made, and even how you can get into 3D printing yourself. 

Sources:

[1] Scott Summit: Beautiful artificial limbs, Filmed November 2011, TEDxCambridge. http://www.ted.com/talks/scott_summit_beautiful_artificial_limbs.html 

[2] Introduction to 3D Printers: The Promise and Pitfalls of Desktop Manufacturing, testedcom, March 27, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTCIlO0oLP8