Guidant's woven polyester ANCURE System.

Prodesco has been developing and engineering medical fabrics and innovative surgical implants that require minimally invasive surgery for implantation. Such implants include vascular grafts, ligaments, heart valve components, hernia mesh, adhesion barriers and other devices.

Tissue Compliance

Mechanical, dynamic and electrical interfaces

Synthetic Skins

Exoskeleton

Biomechatronics

Tell me what fascinated you?

Characteristics of a prosthetic leg.

Strength

Durability

Longevity

Shock Absorption

LIfelikeness

Comfort

b) Come up with creative ideas.

c) Select the best idea.

d) Make a plan, draw a sketch and describe the idea.

e) Choose the materials.

(Make sure you explain the purpose of each material.

How you came up with the design

Important design features

Estimated cost)

f) Build a prototype.

g) Evaluate what you have made.

The use of biomedical materials has a long and fascinating legacy characterized by creativity, innovation, and positive medical outcomes. 

Since the dawn of civilization, man has been exploring ways in which natural materials might replace or enhance the natural functions of the human body. 

Archaeological evidence suggests, for example, that the ancient Egyptians used sea shells to replace missing teeth and linen to close wounds — creating what may have been the first dental implants and sutures.

Other examples of natural materials once used in medical applications include coconut shells used to close holes in skulls, as was the practice in Tahiti, and elephant ivory used to create the first recorded hip implant in 1891 in Germany.

The real revolution in biomedical materials began in the second part of the 20th century, with the introduction of synthetic materials that let medical device makers — particularly those focused on orthopedic implants — break free from many of the limitations and risks associated with relying solely on natural materials.

For comfort: Large sponges, bubble wrap, cardboard.

For lifelikeness: bath towels, pair of pants, shoes

For Body attachment: String, rope , twine

2) What other materials and fasteners would help improve your design?

3) What would be different if you have to make the whole leg, including the knee?

4)What design constraints or limitations might be different for biomedical engineers developing real prosthesis?

Pedagogy - Using videos, and hands on project to immerse in the knowledge of prosthetics.

Technology - Using youtube showing the latest advances in prosthetics.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/artificial-skin-sends-touching-signals-to-nerve-cells/

Model robotic hand with artificial mechanoreceptors touching a human hand.

Researchers at Stanford University have taken a step closer to this type of prosthetic by creating an electronic skin that responds to pressure changes and transmits signals via nerve cells, much as human skin does.

Zhenan Bao and coworkers made the artificial skin by connecting three components: microstructured resistive pressure sensors, flexible printed organic electronic circuits, and nerve cells containing light-activated ion channels (Science 2015, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa9306).

The pressure sensors are made of a carbon nanotube-elastomer composite shaped into tiny pyramidal structures that are coated onto a surface. The sensor changes conductance in response to applied pressure. Bao previously made similar capacitive sensors, but the new resistive sensors better detect the range of pressures sensed by human skin.