I had the great privilege of meeting the team at Dee Dee Labs earlier this year in Mumbai. They are working on a low-cost prosthetic arm in a start-up incubator run by Venture Centre at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory's NCL Innovation Park, Pune.
Dee Dee Labs has an interesting prosthetic arm design and they are doing good work. Today's Indian Express has a great article on their journey so far. Congratulations to everyone at Dee Dee Labs. Keep up the great work!

Pratik Bhalerao, a co-founder at Pune start-up Dee Dee Labs, demonstrates the working of the prosthetic hand. Photo credit: Indian Express.

Here is a short paper that discusses the design considerations for prosthetic hands in a manner that is easy to understand and follow because of clear diagrams.

Today my associates at Vigyan Ashram, Pune fitted a prototype open source 3D printed bionic hand onto Parshuram Takalkar, an amputee who has lost his right forearm.

Last Friday, August 5, 2016 my associates at Vigyan Ashram, Pune fitted a prototype 3D Printed Prosthetic Hand onto Parshuram Takalkar, an amputee who has lost his right forearm. Mr. Takalkar kindly agreed to meet Ms. Shilpa Saraf and her dedicated team on a rainy afternoon in Pune and seated himself in the back of Ms. Saraf's car to be fitted with the prosthetic hand. After flexing the prosthetic hand a few times, he fitted the palm into the handles of a shopping bag at his feet and lifted the bag to place it on the seat next to him. After letting the handles go for a moment, he picked up the bag by its handles once again and put it back at his feet. Mr. Takalkar was then offered an object that he gripped by its handle and proceeded to lift it to his lips, to mimic a drinking action.

Earlier this evening, I gave a talk at Jaipur on The Challenge of Creating a 3D Printed Myoelectric Prosthetic Hand that is suitable for India.

The Invitation Card

You are cordially invited to an interactive talk by Ashok Mathur on Plan to Fail: The Challenge of Creating a 3D Printed Myoelectric Prosthetic Hand that is suitable for India.

The session shares the story and the process of how an idea, a desire to do good and a challenge transformed into creation of a team, acquiring of skills, search for solutions and finally the successful creation of a customisable 3D printed myoelectric (sensors picking information from muscle movement) prosthetic hand that is suitable for at the shoulder' amputees (thresher accidents are the main reasons for hand amputations in India). At the same time the production cost has been brought down from 3.75 lac to 10,000 rupees.

This session will be useful to businessmen, entrepreneurs, managers, doctors, designers, scientists, engineers, IT people, non profit workers, basically anyone who is planning on creating anything (and we hope that is everyone).

The Myoelectric Arm Project

A project at Vigyan Ashram, Pune aims to set up capabilities in India such that myoelectric hands in the price band of ₹10,000 to ₹30,000 are available for fitting to those in need. At a later stage the project would work with other institutions such that a few engineering colleges have centers for Prosthetics and Exoskeletons for further innovation. The world is in a ferment in these two areas. A lot of development is taking place with implications for public health and military and with many Indian scientists working abroad in these areas.

The innovation involved

1. 3D printing with Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) / Polylactic acid (PLA) and flexible filaments
2. Myoelectric sensors
3. Stepper motors, Servo motors and DC motors with continuously variable transmission (CVTs) to power the myoelectric arms
4. Value Engineering to reduce the cost from ₹3,75,000 to ₹10,000 per item

Introduction to Prosthetics and their manufacture

Prosthetics are parts that fit into a human body to complete a function that has been lost/impaired. Ears cannot hear clearly; eyes have difficulty in seeing clearly; limbs have been cut off or were never present. Cochlear implants in the ear canal improve hearing; lenses are inserted into the retina to improve eyesight; artificial limbs aid walking and functioning of hands.