03/12/19

Prosthetics designers harness AI to assist India’s amputees

Subojeet - MAIN
Bhattacharya Subojit Bhattacharya使用他的鳄梨假肢装备装有园艺工具。版权:社交硬件

Speed read

  • India has more than half a million amputees, according to estimates
  • 一家新公司正在为低收入工人设计适应性的假肢
  • AI-based software is used to design the devices, which are free for users

发送to a friend

您在此页面上提供的详细信息将不会用于发送未经请求的电子邮件,也不会出售给第三方。请参阅隐私政策。

Innovative prosthetics designed using artificial intelligence (AI)-based software are a ‘lifesaver’ for Indian amputees, writes Ranjit Devraj.

[NEW DELHI] “With amputations being reported on a daily basis, India’s vast rural hinterland is comparable to a warzone,” says Abhit Kumar, who makes practical, affordable prosthetic devices designed to get amputees back into the workforce.

三分之二以上在印度的13亿居民中,居住在低收入农村地区,事故导致肢体损失经常是由于使用不安全的农业机械,从事铁路和道路建设或由于蛇纹的结果而发生的。

According to estimates, India has more than half a million amputees, with tens of thousands added to the amputee population every year. And rehabilitation support from the government is negligible thanks to an overwhelmingly large informal sector.

“With amputations being reported on a daily basis, India’s vast rural hinterland is comparable to a warzone,”

Abhit Kumar,社会硬件

在注意到印度可用的人造四肢或辅助设备之后,除了太重或太脆弱以至于没有任何实际用途之外,库马尔都感觉到他所说的“假肢市场上的漏洞”,并着手用一家初创公司填充它叫社交硬件

拥有生物医学和机器人领域背景的工程师库马尔(Kumar)与与英国开源硬件合作的卡梅隆·诺里斯(Cameron Norris)合作研究了现有的假肢设备的缺点,并提出了可以帮助平均低 - 低 - 低 - 的解决方案。income rural Indian for whom imported prosthetics could be worth six months’ wages.

“鳄梨”

该团队于2016年开始工作,发现了一种新方法来实现上限假体设计的新方法,并提出了“鳄梨”,这是一种能够极大地改善现有人工假体设备的整体性能的手腕连接器。
The Avocado. Copyright:Social Hardware
鳄梨手腕连接器以水果的形状命名,价格合理,可以安装在任何上肢假体中,成本在11,000至150,000印度卢比(154美元至2,094美元)之间,而无需大大提高产品的整体价格。

“鳄梨使我能够回到近乎正常的存在,”位于班加罗尔的图形设计师Subojeet Bhattacharya说,他在大约二十年前的意外电动事件后失去了双臂。他告诉他说:“我尝试过的假肢设备从未给我任何满足感,因为它们没有适当的抓地力或正确的敏感性,否则它们很重。”scidev.net。

Bhattacharya说:“我想要一些可以让我帮助妻子进行普通活动,例如园艺或切蔬菜,并且必须等到鳄梨手腕连接器出现。”“我要做的就是根据活动将正确的工具连接到鳄梨。一旦被锁定在适当的位置,我就可以在我作为平面设计师的工作中执行繁重的任务,例如耕作或精致的琐事。”

“我们开始创建一个手腕连接器是easy to fit, comfortable to use but was also durable and affordable for, say, a disabled farmer,” says Kumar. “We turned to AI and came up with the Avocado, a small mechanical adapter and device which could provide an upgrade to the existing user of a prosthesis while conserving battery life for a powered prosthetic hand.”

The Avocado mass manufacturable prototype weighed around 300 grams but using generative design the team was able to pare down the mass and material until it reached 100 grams, with no compromise on strength and articulation.

人工智能

“AI-based software allows you to improvise on design while factoring in stress on particular items. Besides, AI affords design alternatives factoring in human and other inputs so that we could create a manufacturable product with minimum time and expense,” Kumar says.

一旦完善并准备好滚动,鳄梨就被整合到印度现有的假肢供应链中,该供应链主要由印度人工四肢制造公司(Alimco)生产的产品组成。

“We have also partnered with rehabilitation centres across the country to make the Avocado available across the country,” says Kumar. “For example, we work with the Nevedac Prosthetic Centre in Chandigarh, joint-capital of the agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana, where many farming accidents occur.”

According to Chandigarh-based Devender Sharma, an agricultural economist and founder of Kisan Ekta (Farmer’s Unity), an umbrella for 65 farmers’ organisations, the Avocado is a “boon for the 1,000-odd farmers that lose a limb each harvesting season to power threshers alone in Punjab and Haryana states”.

夏尔马说,两种状态中使用的功率阈值的设计效果不佳,该手动喂养系统“与保证人类四肢丧失一样好”。他还归咎于未经训练的农业劳动力,在收获季节下降到两个州,以在不人道的条件下工作,导致集中注意力。

“Loss of a limb virtually seals the fate of such workers, even if they get any compensation, and something like the Avocado wrist connector can keep them out of total destitution and suicide or starvation,” Sharma tellsscidev.net。

也许不仅仅是阈值是蛇位最常导致截肢,以防止坏疽的传播。库马尔说:“在调查过程中,我们在印度南部的咖啡庄,种植园和森林中遇到了工人,他们说蛇咬是肢体流失的最重要原因。”

“We have partnered with six rehabilitation centres in the north region, northwest region, south region and northeast region and each has its own specific requirement for prosthetics and training on how to use them to the best advantage,” Kumar says.

A ‘clear lifesaver’

与这些中心合作,通过非营利组织招募了Amputees,以对伤害和要求进行全面评估,一旦安装了假肢,就可以参与物理治疗师的服务,并制定了适合每个人的培训计划。

库马尔说:“在社会硬件上,我们为农村社区的截肢者提供了可以从日常生活中使用的特定设计的假肢所需的物理疗法和培训。”

Each prosthesis is designed using Autodesk Fusion 360 3D CAD software, which makes it easy to prepare a prototype that can be made with 3D printing.

“我们从接受者患者那里收集和分析数据,以确保获得最舒适和最合适的配件。农民可能会寻找功能,而在城市环境中工作的人可能对美学设备更感兴趣。”

重要的是,对于受益人而言,社交硬件产品对用户是免费的,因为该公司遵循公司非营利模式,这是企业对企业对消费者(B2B2C)模型的变体,非营利性中介机构在其中起货成本。

Sharma说,这与任何需要假肢的人都可以希望使用原油的“全适合所有设备”的设备可能会导致佩戴者不适或疼痛和沉重的自付费用,这与这种情况相去甚远。- “在印度条件下清晰的救生员”。