Healthcare Technology

There are nearly 2 million people living with a limb loss in the United States alone, which can either be due to accident or due to some other medical conditions. Our project which is a prosthetic arm built using a 3D printer is one that gives prominence towards the creation of an affordable, rugged and a semi-functional arm for the disabled.
Many people throughout the world do not have sufficient money to buy a prosthetic arm which approximately costs about $15,000 to $50,000. The arm that we have created would cost below $155(₹10,000). For this study, we have only given a few basic and very important movements like arm rotation and gripping. In a general study, it was found that the upper limb prosthesis users, 76% relied on visual feedback, particularly for grasping tasks, 67% of users relied on auditory feedback, primarily for knowing if the limb is moving. In the same study, the users were asked to rate the importance of sensory feedback.
Sensory feedback was said to be absolutely important for 45% of the participants, and the most important type was grip force, followed by movement and then positioning, which are vital for most of the daily tasks that people come across. In the arm that we have focus on, the user has to rely on his vision to check the position of his arm which acts as a natural feedback mechanism. But we have enabled the user with the ability to feel the grip, and a control over the force of grip he has on an object by using a muscle sensor.