INTERO UNAM LAB | Mexico City, Mexico | July 2019
Chapter Spotlight also available in Google Docs
Site & Community
- Chapter located in the South of Mexico City
- In partnership with UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
- Operating since December 2017
The Intero UNAM Lab team began working with virtual reality (VR) for sports training, and has expanded into adaptive sports and redesigning prosthetics for disabled children. The team became involved with e-NABLE through Maria Esquela and Dr. Saiph Savage, who had been working on civic projects with the government and UNAM. Dr. Savage recognized that upper limb amputees from low income families in Mexico could be helped by the e-NABLE community. She helped connect e-NABLE with the local government, academics, researchers, and professionals. The team, directed by Rodrigo Savage, includes several UNAM researchers who are advancing investigations around e-NABLE and designing new devices as well as writing research papers about how the local community operates.
Tech & Specs
- 2 PRUSA Printers (MK2 & MK3)
- A custom-designed laser cutter
The team has printed 3 e-NABLE hands as tests, and many variations of a prototype for a new design being developed by Samantha Morales. They have 4 main recipients in Veracruz, Mexico (all 6 years and younger) who are awaiting the new design.
Team & Specialities
4 full-time | 5 volunteers
- Rodrigo Savage | Director, Researcher
- Samantha Morales | Industrial Designer, Researcher
- Flor Hernández | UX Researcher
- Adrian Rocamora | Computer Engineer
- Saiph Savage | Project Manager, Researcher
- David Fonseca | Media Manager
- Louise Kreider | UX Researcher
- Geraldine Ruiz | Industrial Designer
- Liliana Savage Pinto | Industrial Designer, Researcher
Accessible design | Material science | Adaptive athletics
Their collective skills include research, occupational therapy, virtual reality, 3D modeling, full stack development, application development, entrepreneurship, HCI, biomedical engineering & robotics. All teammates have a university degree (including 1 Masters and 3 PHDs) and live in Mexico, US, and Brazil.
Design & Process
The team studied the Raptor hand, Unlimbited arm, and the Gripper hand, and other commercial and amateur prosthetics. For working with children without the use of the wrist, they’ve found that each of these designs needs significant adaptations. Children lack the strength needed to activate the hands, they are dependent on others to put on and take off their prosthetics, and they could be injured by the weight of a bulky prosthetic.
The team is working to create a correctly-scaled, ergonomic design for children to promote independence with more manual adjustments, lateral thumb movements, and more natural-feeling materials.
They are working on an iterative process to clearly document their design decisions in collaboration with Louise Kreider occupational therapist in the US who also advises about professional regulations and medical protocols.
Projects & Collaborations
Mobility for Disabled Children in Rural Mexico
In collaboration with CRIT, a governmental organization for disabled youth across Mexico (Centros de Rehabilitación e Inclusión Infantil Teletón) and UNAM, the team is developing a model for how to utilize 3D printing and perhaps VR to support mobility and education of community members. After developing a more functional hand for young children, they plan to develop local university partnerships and schedule trainings to create a sustainable, locally-driven process.
Adaptive Rowing & VR Training
In collaboration with the Rowing Federation of Mexico and the Paralympic team, Intero Lab has created VR training applications, devices, and related accessible sports equipment for athletes. They created an SDK to connect to the gym sports equipment (Concept 2) and integrate with their VR training applications, and plan to release the commercial app, as well as an open API later this year. http://interovr.com
The team has also benefited from directly collaborating with research labs at UNAM, such as the Civic Innovation Lab and the DLP Lab.
Research
The team conducts interviews with makers and users of 3D printed assistive devices around the world, categorizing key concepts to find common opportunities and issues to better understand device use, recipient relationships with occupational therapists, and how the community experience might be improved. This effort is in line with the ‘Measuring Our Impact’ project, aimed at analyzing collaboration and the experiences of users.
Currently, they are working on creating a series of posts to share the results of the interviews and analyses. They will be posted on different social media platforms in order to give visibility to activities, network with different assistive device 3D printing communities, and raise awareness of accessibility project opportunities.
Funding & Sustainability
The team activities do not rely on monetary donations for staffing needs. The government of Mexico has an apprenticeship program which offers a small scholarship for young professionals. This has allowed some volunteers to receive funding to cover travel, insurance, and food expenses. UNAM covers the costs for the lab and provides conference facilities. The team applies for academic grants and startup competitions. The has won I-CORPS NSF funding and Televisa Posible mentorship.
Public Presence
- HUB: hub.e-nable.org/s/intero-unam-lab-mexico-city/
- Website: www.interovr.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/ProtesisIntero/
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/interomx/
The team has joined national and international conferences as well as hosted workshops for 3D printing and scanning. The VR projects have appeared on national television and been covered in the US by CNN. For more information: https://interovr.com/es/noticias/
