Mini-Grant for Development of a Transradial Prosthetic Arm
> I had to cut out this introduction and the references section and post them separately because my thread was exceeding the Loomio thread character count, so I thought it made sense to post these two sections beforehand. I will post the rest of the thread right after this one; this introduction would have been the first thing, and references would have come last.
Hi everyone, my name is Bhargav Parthasarathy and I am an engineering undergraduate student. Over the past 18 months or so, I have spent much of my time researching the priorities and patterns involved in transradial prosthetic arms in comparison to more dexterous and biomimetic robotic arms. These interests have led me to my current work of building a competitive transradial prosthetic arm that improves upon current designs.
After detailing my project here and if given approval from the community, then submitting a proposal, ultimately I hope to gain as much funding as possible to support the full cost of the project. As a college student, I am unable to set aside enough money right now to fully fund this project due to tuition and housing, which is why I was interested in the micro-grant process.
Seeing as my goal here is to eventually submit a proposal anyway, I figured it would make more sense to organize my project details in the micro-grant proposal format which I am sure you all are more familiar with reviewing. I tried to make this as detailed as I possibly could and would appreciate any feedback. Thank you.
References:
Stanford study: https://web.stanford.edu/class/engr110/2011/LeBlanc-03a.pdf
Prosthetic arm cost breakdown: https://health.costhelper.com/prosthetic-arms.html
Bob Rieger
Sat 12 Jan 2019 3:29PM
I believe the proposal is extremely well researched, comprehensive, and complete. I also believe the author graciously listened to, and accepted earlier comments and recommendations. The amount requested is modest, and I believe worthy of acceptance.
Jon Schull
Mon 14 Jan 2019 2:52AM
Bob stated my personal position on this proposal perfectly.
Appreciate all votes and helpful comments, in order to better capture community views. These proposals are helping us understand the kinds initiatives the community wishes to support.
Bhargav Parthasarathy
Mon 14 Jan 2019 6:11AM
Thank you everyone for the votes and comments. Really quickly, I did want to briefly address what Ms. Zimmerman said because I should have said something about this earlier. Regarding schools providing crowd funding and local grants, this is completely fair and actually my university does offer a crowd funding platform however it is a very lengthy process lasting at least 4 months, requiring the applicant(s) to continuously campaign, and charges a fee. Just to clarify
Bhargav Parthasarathy
Mon 14 Jan 2019 6:12AM
(Abstaining because I created the proposal)
Jason Bender
Mon 21 Jan 2019 1:56AM
I really appreciate the breadth and depth here but would like to see some things fleshed out as not to end up in the vast student project graveyard:
- Can you partner w/ someone with prosthetic experience?
- How will the weight of device will be suspended on the arm?
- How is backdrive of servos being prevented? Or servo "whine" (Hackberry fatal flaw)?
- How long is the wrist module (how short will limb need to be)?
- Can you self-fund smaller proof of concepts to validate sub systems?
Donna Zimmerman
Mon 21 Jan 2019 10:10PM
I have changed my vote. My reasoning is based on what this project can give to the community as a whole. The thought-out answers provided to all concerns provide discussion that is of value to the community and shows that the requester is dedicated to helping those in need.
Jason Bender
Tue 22 Jan 2019 1:08AM
Changed my response. Clearly open to dialogue and suggestions for the community. I have my doubts about the feasibility of the project but if it is broken up into bite-sized pieces to minimize funding risk to the community I see no reason to stand in the way of an extremely marginal amount of money given the thoroughness of the proposal and answers to community questions.
Shashi
Thu 24 Jan 2019 1:35AM
Agreed with Jason Bender. I welcome release of bite sized chunks of information, rather than the whole project at once. Please don't disappoint :)
Magi
Thu 24 Jan 2019 3:59PM
I am VERY interested in your progress. I am travelling to Kenya in June where I plan to provide 3D printed arms to two children who fit the description of your profiled recipients.
Jeff Powell
Thu 24 Jan 2019 7:10PM
Bhargav has done a great job doing research for this proposal, addressing comments and responding to the community. I trust in him and this project.