Re: rp-ml mailing list

From: Ian Wood (Simon Fraser  University)
To: André Dolenc (Helsinki University of Technology), RP-ML
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 1994
Subject: Re: rp-ml mailing list
Andre' Dolenc wrote to me:

>You are on the mailing list.
>Your signature suggests an application area of RP with which I am not
>familiar. Could you, perhaps, "talk" a little more about your
>interests in RP?

     (my .sig is below:) ... I presume you don't mean my interest in cycling ...  :-)
     In my capacity as a rehabilitation engineer, I am involved in a handfull of design projects for artificial legs (prosthetics). In manufacturing these devices, normally a mold is made from the shape of the residual limb and a laminated fibre or thermoplastic socket is formed over top of this mold (the socket is the cup into which the residual leg is placed to attach the prosthesis to the limb - it's really just analogous to the way most of us don a shoe upon our foot).
     Several people have have worked over the years to come up with CAD/CAM systems which are used to design and automatically carve out a mold. It is still necessary to form the socket over this mold,however.
     Some other researchers have tried using rapid prototypers to create a socket directly (in one step). It 
appears that with the advent of greater and greater selection of materials that can be used in RP, we may get some which have the necessary properties for long-term use in this structural role. As yet the speed of production hasn't been great in every case, and the cost could be lower, but by and large we see this as a very promising application of the technology.
     We haven't found anyone locally who has one to try it out for ourselves. Do any of you know of any in the Vancouver, Canada or Seattle, USA areas? Any thoughts or advice will be appreciated.
Regards, Ian