Three fresh engineering graduates have succeeded in designing a lightweight and easy-to-use prosthetic arm.
The new device can be useful to those with an amputated limb, especially children, and neurological atrophy sufferers.
It usually takes time for amputees to get accustomed to artificial limbs after losing one of their body parts.
However, with a positive mindset, coupled with physical rehabilitation, and the right prosthetic devices, amputees can experience a tremendous life quality improvement.
At the very least, a prosthetic should help amputees carry out necessary daily activities, such as eating, walking and getting dressed on their own.
Nermeen Sobhi, one of the three engineers designing the aforementioned prosthetic arm, said at the beginning of her engineering study five years ago, she noticed the lack of proper care for children and neurological atrophy sufferers.
“People who lose a limb become incapable of performing any of their routine and commonplace tasks,” she said.
This encouraged Sobhi and her colleagues, Ahmed Magdi and Mohmed el-Aidi, at the British University in Cairo to design a prosthetic arm.
For many amputees, artificial limbs can improve mobility and the ability to manage daily activities, as well as provide the means to stay independent.
Conventional prosthetic arms operate with the body’s movements, utilising small motors that enable them to move in a way similar to natural arms.
Traditional prosthetic limbs are heavy, which makes it hard for some amputees, especially children, to use them. They are controlled by brain signals through a cap worn by patients.
The cap reads the brain signals and then translates them into movements, using artificial intelligence algorithms to be performed by the prosthetic limb, including raising the hand or putting it down, and opening objects or closing them.
Patients using the limb just think of the movement they want to make, then their brain sends signals that are automatically translated into movement.
Sobhi’s team used air pressure in operating the device, as an alternative to the motor utilised in traditional prosthetics. The light weight of the arm they designed also facilitates the movement of the arm, which makes it useful to patients, especially children.
Sobhi said the device has already been tried on one patient.
Every case, she added, has its own customised device because each patient has his/her own thinking and brain signals.
She and her team had participated in the Abu Dhabi 8th Undergraduate Virtual Research Competition for 2021 in June of this year and came in second place.
Over 315 projects participated in the competition from 87 universities at the level of the Middle East and Africa.
One of the challenges Sobhi and her colleagues faced as they embarked on designing the new prosthetic arm was that the device was deeply into medical engineering, while she and her colleagues specialised in mechanical engineering.
“We had just no idea about the human body and the anatomy of brain signals,” Sobhi said.
This made it necessary for the members of the team to study the human body and medical engineering.
Sobhi said continuous technological advances mean that amputees can lead their lives normally, as if they had not lost a body part.
She and her team have already submitted their design to the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, the state-run agency that offers support to budding scientists and innovators.
Nonetheless, the team has got no positive response from the academy yet.
“The new prosthetic arm will offer tremendous help to patients, for sure,” Sobhi said. “These are people who do not receive proper care from society.”
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