The Alabama Prosthetic Project
The Alabama Prosthetic Project, founded in the summer of 2016, provides novel 3D printed prosthetic devices to children with unconventional hands.
Recruited as Head Engineer for the project the following year, my primary role and contribution to the team was to redesign the prosthetic hand using a parametric modeling approach. This allowed us to have a flexible CAD model that could readjust its dimensions and shape according to the size and ratio of the recipient's hand.
The project has delivered prosthetics to five different recipients this past year (Spring 2018).
Moving Forward...
Having completed a major phase of the project last year, I have now been working on securing the continuity of the project. Near the end of last semester (Fall 2018) I partnered with a friend in the Univeristy of Alabama's Society of Engineers in Medicine (SEM). Together, we have worked on expanding this project to other younger members of the UA student body with the intent of creating a tight-knit community of students with similar interests in biomedical engineering and prosthetics. After interviewing over 10 people last month (January 2019), we assembled a team of motivated students who will continue to expand this project.
My role this semester as Project Manager involves: mentoring both technical and non-technical subteams, connecting its members to faculty at the university, and helping set manageable goals, a mission, and a vision.
I am very excited to see the team progress within the next few monthes and achieve many great things in the years to come!