Two teams of biomedical engineering students who just finished their freshman year at The University of Akron will travel to El Paso, Texas, to compete in the LIMBS International competition on Friday, June 5.
Biomedical engineering students Audrey Braun, left, and Lindsay Jaros display their low-cost prosthetic designed for the LIMBS International competition.
LIMBS International is an annual student design competition with the goal to design, develop and test highly functional, durable and low-cost prosthetic devices for amputees in developing nations. Student teams are charged with clearly defining a problem and the need for a solution, then working to tackle the issue.
Teammates Audrey Braun of Sandusky, Ohio, and Lindsay Jaros of Leavittsburg, Ohio, have designed an easily replicated prosthetic leg made of low-cost, readily available materials, including PVC and bicycle parts. Stress testing done in a biomedical engineering lab shows the prosthetic can currently hold at least 750 pounds.
The second team participating in the LIMBS competition is tackling another problem – the potentially frequent resizing of prosthetics required by amputees, which is both costly and unrealistic in developing nations where the nearest medical facility may be more than 200 miles away.
Biomedical engineering student Stephen Conklin demonstrates his team's project for the LIMBS International competition.
Stephen Conklin of Montville, Ohio, Nolyn Martz of Hudson, Ohio, Travis Pero of Norton, Ohio, and Logan Belew of East Canton, Ohio have developed an inexpensive system for adjusting the fitting of a prosthetic appendage.
The team’s concept is to use polycaprolactone (PCL), a biodegradable polymer with a low melting point, to fill in the gaps created by changes to the amputees remaining limb as muscles deteriorate and other physical changes take place over time. The small, beadlike pieces of PCL are placed between the outside wall of the prosthetic and the inner lining. Then the prosthetic, which has a heating element coiled within it, is attached to an outlet that slowly heats up and melts the PLC to the necessary shape.
The students will present their projects and take questions from their peers during the 3rd annual LIMBS Summit presented by LIMBS International in cooperation with The University of Texas at El Paso-College of Engineering.
Media contact: Denise Henry, 330-972-6477 or henryd@uakron.edu.