El Medallo Bionic Arm

El Medallo Bionic Arm.jpg

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Designers: Mark Walbran, Oliver Vogel, Ben Complin, Esteban Rojas, Mohit Mothukuri, Elena Guss, Bryn Davis

Description:

El Medallo is the world's cheapest-to-fabricate open source bionic prosthetic. Created at eNABLE Medellin, the mechanical design of the device is a variant of the Kwawu Arm (by Jacquin Buchanan). You can see the story of its creation on youtube.

This design features 2 different grips, a pinch grip and a power grip, each activated by EMG sensor signals from 2 unique muscle contractions. These 2 unique grips are achieved by altering the timing of 2 servo motors controlling the fingers.

Construction of this prosthetic appears complicated at first, however we provide a step-by-step guide, and anyone with basic electronics and 3D printing experience can make this themselves. The estimated fabrication time from start to finish is approximately 80 hours. If you are creating a custom fit insert, add another 10 hours; this will be longer if you are unfamiliar with Fusion 360. This estimate includes file preparation, sourcing parts, soldering circuitry, calibrating the EMG sensors with the patient and assembly. This time may be longer if you need to alter this prosthetic for a particular patient or if the prosthetic does not fit in the first attempt (this can happen).