Mioelectric Bionic Arm and Ultrasonic Arm for Blind People

e-NABLE Medellín is a registered Colombian not-for-profit/NGO that uses 3D printing technology to create arm prosthetics and other assistive devices for disabled people. We are based in Antioquia, one of the most landmine-affected regions in the world, and helped 20 children, adolescents, and adults reintegrate back into society in 2018.
Everyone on our team has the same vision: to assist over 40 people in 2019 and more than 50 in 2020. We are also aiming to launch our bionic arm prototype, ultrasonic arm and prosthetic leg worldwide to accommodate for a wider variety of amputees. With support from the EnableFund, we can achieve our goals and have a long-term impact through the roll-out of these three new prosthetic designs, both in Colombia and globally.

Description of Proposed Project

In July 2019 we will release our bionic arm prototype “El Medallo” Version 1.0 to the wider enable community, along with our ultrasonic arm, which has an optional audio feedback device for blind patients.

Both are new designs that are based on the mechanical designs from team Unlimbited and Jacquin Buchanan Kwawu arm. They were developed by a team of local Colombian and international volunteers from New Zealand, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, all equipped with a wide range of expertise, from medical engineers to software specialists.

The proposed project is to have a finalized bionic arm design by December 2019 that will be suitable for a wider range of beneficiaries, i.e., those with above-the-elbow amputations or restricted elbow movement. This project involves replacing the mechanical input of the current arms with EMG and/or light signals that trigger movement driven by servo motors.

Over the same time period we will fully developed and improve a vibrating ultrasonic arm, that will also be proved and tested by our beneficiaries.

The initial group of volunteers, who have developed version 1 plus associated plans, schematics and designs, have now left. We are requesting funds to pay local Colombian engineer, Esteban Rojas, who worked with the group and is familiar with the projects, to work full time.

This will allow for the continuity of the projects and a more effective turnover of codes and designs to the next volunteers so that we can improve the prototypes more efficiently, continue to monitor the current versions and create the open source documentation in spanish. All designs, codes, electronics schematics and assembly instructions will be released to the enable community as open source.
To create the final prototypes, we will be using electronics, CAD designs, myoelectric sensors, ultrasonic sensors, Arduinos, and associated coding and documentation. Therefore, due to the large scale of the project, we believe 3 months would be sufficient to have all the designs and user guides ready to launch on our webpage.

Expected results

For our organisation:

Releasing these two new prototypes, alongside the development of the internal capacity of our staff and volunteer base, will widen our recipient demographic and create new opportunities for growth and impact.
This grant will allow us to leverage additional funding and diversify funding sources by using the evidence gathered in project evaluations to demonstrate the success of our work which will allow for further innovation and open source designs in 2020.
It will allow us to locate more potential recipients who are cut off from national healthcare services and/or are unaware of our work.
For the world and the enable community:

There are currently many existing open-source bionic arm designs, however, what we have found thus far is that they are either not easily reproducible or too expensive. For this reason, we aim to design an arm that is low-cost, easy to manufacture without technical expertise, and reliable for the patient. We will upload the designs to our website, the global enable community, and to online 3D printing sites such as thingiverse, to achieve a global impact.

We hope that this project will inspire young people in Colombia and around the world to view and use technology as a force for positive social change and health technology advancements.

Estimate of work effort involved:

3 months – one paid employee working 9am to 6pm, 5 days a week. Many local and international volunteers will be working under his direction.
Estimated timeline for completion & amount of funding being requested
From September 1, 2019 to December 1, 2019 we will deliver the program across three key workstreams, with the key milestones highlighted below.

Workstream 1: Project Management

We use GitHub, a technology development platform, to manage our projects effectively and set milestones for each new prosthetic. We have used it to share, host, and review code and software. We will open the github on both designs to the Enable and wider maker community. This will provide everything you need to produce a mio electric bionic arm for less than US$200 . Parts list, schematics, codes, designs and assembly instructions. This funding will also allow us to release a spanish version of the associated git hubs to have an even wider impact. Part of the funds will pay for the transport of 2 patients who live far away from Medellin and are from low income families. One is a 16 year old boy from Giradota who lost his arm in a work accident after falling from a roof and getting caught in electrical cables and the 2nd is a land mine victim how last both hands and was blinded in the explosion.

Workstream 2: Develop and Pilot Bionic Arm & Ultrasonic Arm (2019)

Milestone 1: Bionic Arm & Ultrasonic Arm Prototype sent to recipient for testing (June 2019)

With EnableFund:

Milestone 2: Recipient to assess functionality over a several month period (September 2019)
Milestone 3: Evaluation: Collect feedback on prosthetic’s performance through a detailed questionnaire (September 2019)
Milestone 4: Further Develop and Pilot Bionic Arm & Ultrasonic Arm: Refine the designs and their parts accordingly. We will create an improved second iteration of the bionic & ultrasonic prosthetic (October & November 2019)
Milestone 5: Communication: We will be ready to release the technical documentation and assembly instructions for these prototypes to the wider e-NABLE community in both English and Spanish (December 2019)

Names of individuals responsible for deliverables

Adam Armfield, the founder and CEO, will be in charge of executing the project, along with Esteban Rojas, General Manager. These are the two paid members of staff and under their authority are around 18 volunteers working towards the same goal.

Amount of funding being requested:

We would like to request a grant of US$3500 which would cover the local engineer´s wages for 3 months so that the project can progress more efficiently. Also, this will go towards the development of new materials for the further improvement of our bionic arm and ultrasonic arm prototypes; family support and outreach travel program (for those in remote areas or low-income families); 3D printing materials; and parts for the prosthetic arms and hands as well as customization materials.

A brief overview of my background with e-NABLE:

e-NABLE was founded in 2017 by Adam Armfield, an Australian citizen, who has dedicated his life over the past 3 years to setting up this organization, without any government or corporate support. He has tirelessly worked towards growing a strong team of 18 volunteers equipped with a wide range of expertise. However, 50 volunteers have already worked for e-NABLE in the past 2 years.
The organization helped 11 people in our first year by providing free, personalized 3D-printed arms. In the second year, we almost doubled our impact and helped 20 people, as well as developing new prototypes for prosthetic legs and other assistive devices. We are on track to help 40 people this year and to continue growing in 2020.
Thank you for your consideration.