This study reports on the development of a customized transradial mechanical prosthesis for an infant patient with bilateral transradial amputation, with a design process based on an interdisciplinary project combining the areas of product design, rehabilitation, rapid prototyping and ergonomics. The design process started with the clinical assessment of the patient characteristics, functional abilities and needs, as well as interviews for exploring patient's preferences and interests. Next, a first version of the 3D prosthesis was designed and prototyped and later tested with the patient. From this first test, a second design process was started, aiming to solve the problems and improve the prosthesis hand function. A second test was then carried out with the user, revealing that the second prototype provided a more appropriate and comfortable coupling with the limb, an easy activation of the hand prehension by flexing the elbow and, finally, met the child's preferences and expectations. It was possible to manufacture tailor-made, customized and personalized parts according to the users' preferences, in a faster and more precise way than the conventional method, making them more suitable for the development of prostheses for each patient, which must be custom fabricated.
Resumo: A Prototipagem Rápida (PR) pode ser aplicada tanto na confecção de protótipos quanto na produção de produtos para o uso final (Manufatura Rápida), pois é capaz de criar peças com geometrias complexas, com alta precisão dimensional, e executar partes internas sem necessitar de montagens. Embora as tecnologias aditivas, onde as camadas são sobrepostas uma a uma com deposição de material, sejam as mais populares na Prototipagem Rápida, existem também as tecnologias subtrativas, na qual a máquina remove material a partir de um bloco até obter a peça desejada. A PR pode otimizar o processo de produção de um produto, por isso é importante que o tipo de tecnologia seja escolhido adequadamente. Este trabalho apresenta a produção de duas peças a partir de um mesmo modelo, uma confeccionada com a tecnologia aditiva e outra com a subtrativa, e mostra resultados da comparação de ambos os processos.
Palavras-chave:
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.