Prosthetics design

How did you start into the field of prosthetics design?

I began my academic career at the University of Oxford, where I majored in engineering. After some time in industry, I ended up inventing a robotic arm for persons with tetraplegia at the Bath Institute for Medical Engineering (paralysis causing a total or partial loss of function in all their limbs and their torso).

As a "sensitive engineer" – that's probably how I'd characterize myself at the time – I could see all kinds of emotional and cultural concerns while conducting that work. These devices would have a significant impact on the lives of its users, but they would also have an impact on their interactions with others, particularly strangers who encountered them for the first time in the company of all the technology.In some respects, the appearance of [the gadget] would be part of how someone saw them and part of how they saw themselves; it would be part of their identity. However, as engineers and physicians working on the project, we had no method of resolving or even seriously considering those difficulties.

After that, I studied Industrial Design Engineering at the Royal College of Art. I opted to design prosthetic hands for my major project. I met one amputee who didn't wear a prosthesis when we first met – she never did when she first met someone because she didn't want them to notice that her arm wasn't her arm at all and that she was wearing a prosthetic hand.The realization would register on their face, which she would notice and they would notice, resulting in mutual shame and awkwardness. Other amputees disliked the way their prosthetic felt, smelled, or looked, which influenced how they thought about it.

The materials for prosthetics that you would choose for their tactile qualities and cultural references, rather than their aesthetic proximity to human skin, is the focus I've returned to after 20 years.

What value does a designer contribute to the field of prosthetics?

The trait of appearing ‘undesigned,' in a good way, is something that designers spend a lot of time discussing. The Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa and the British designer Jasper Morrison coined the word "super normal," which may seem paradoxical in this context. It defines anything so expertly built that it almost appears inevitable, but in a subtle way...that is deceptively tough.

My goal with our current project is to take commonplace and banal materials that we may already be exposed to through clothing or household products and apply them to something similarly commonplace and mundane — a prosthetic hand. The designer's job is to guide you through the process.

Many amputees are dissatisfied with the options available to them. Amputees who utilize highly complicated, computer-controlled prosthetics can choose between wearing a glove that mimics a natural hand or a naked robotic hand that reveals the materials such as carbon fiber and titanium. Amputees and companies selling the prosthetics frequently describe the naked robotic hand as "cyborg-like," even using the word "Terminator." This is a pretty specific image of a prosthesis and one's relationship with it, and it's not one that many amputees can relate to.

I'm interested in working with and for anyone who are dissatisfied with present options or who are intrigued by potential alternatives. I'm also looking forward to working with amputees who don't believe they'll ever want to use a prosthetic since their viewpoint is fascinating.

You address what may be learned from the design of prosthetics that could be valuable for a wider range of applications in your book, Design Meets Disability.

Manufacturing may be viewed through the lens of prosthetics, which is a fascinating perspective. I believe we are in a period of transition in which we have access to a plethora of really fascinating manufacturing techniques, many of which – such as 3D printing – are blurring the lines between prototyping (creating one-offs) and what we used to refer to as mass production. The procedures are extremely adaptable, but they are also automated and digitally driven. Simultaneously, the palette of materials that may be used for techniques like 3D printing, which are so common in that field, is rather limited.

This is an odd situation to be in, and one that we're attempting to address with the project I'm presently working on. The Institute of Making at UCL and MAKLab in Scotland are particularly interested in approaches that combine digital manufacturing with additional processes, such as 3D printing something from which a mold may be formed and then utilizing the mold to build the object in a different material. Because the importance of materials in prosthetics is so obvious, there is much greater pressure to take material selection seriously in this application than in most others. We anticipate that exploring the creation of prosthetic hands will lead to the discovery of materials and guidelines that could be used in the future.

The leg splints made by Charles and Ray Eames in the 1940s are my favorite example. During World War II, they devised leg splints for the US Navy to get injured servicemen away from the battlefield and to field hospitals. The splints were made of plywood rather than the metal used in prior prototypes, but they had to perfect a process for bending plywood in intricate curves to provide the required rigidity.After the war, the same technique underlay iconic mainstream furniture manufacture, which undoubtedly revolutionized home furniture and product design in the 1940s and 1950s, making Charles and Ray Eames household names.

I'm not claiming that such examples aren't rare, but the fact that they exist at all demonstrates the potential for this small, underserved sector to catalyze much larger thinking that affects a wide range of popular applications that use the same technologies.

What do you think the future of prosthetic design will look like?

It's not about how to make a prosthetic out of a new material; rather, it's about how to support a design that allows amputees a variety of options.

There will always be a clinical component to prosthetics, but there may be another aspect that has nothing to do with that experience, despite the fact that the two must be linked. This section is about you, the consumer, developing your own prosthesis, looking at alternatives, and experimenting with different materials combinations.Choosing and fitting a prosthetic could be likened to going to a bespoke tailor or a custom bicycle store, where you can choose the materials and extras. In some ways, it would still be a mass-produced product, but because you were involved in the design process, the prosthetic would feel like yours before you even put it on.

If you're interested in helping Graham with his endeavor, you can reach out to him.