Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2017
24th ABCM International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Development of a wrist-hand orthosis for children with neurological and motor disabilities: conceptual design and mock-up
Submission Author:
Paula Kaneko , SP , Brazil
Co-Authors:
Adriel Magalhães Souza, daniel kemmoku, Franco Henrique Moro, Gabriel Bellomi Schiavon, LUCAS GEREZ, Luiz Nascimento, Zilda de Castro Silveira, Paula Kaneko
Presenter: Paula Kaneko
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2017.COB17-0485
Abstract
This paper aims to develop the conceptual design for a feeding and writing auxiliary orthosis. Assistive Technology (AT) is a multidisciplinary area of knowledge, which prescribes equipment and strategies, assisting the rehabilitation of people with different difficulties. The development of AT projects includes the collaboration between engineering, healthcare professionals and patients, obtaining feasible solutions that satisfy the users’ needs and support the mechanical requests. The informational design is the first step to obtain a degree of innovation and it delivers a report, which describes commercial products, patents, technical solutions, and aspects that must feature the solutions. The second step, the conceptual design, includes the conception of ideas from technical and functional inspirations and from creativity tools. Thus, the feasibility design was developed for a hand-wrist orthosis for children with motor difficulties, using design methodology tools as the Quality Function Deployment (QFD); Material-Energy-Signal flow (MEI); functional diagram; morphological diagram; Computer Aided Design (CAD); and a 3D printed mock-up. The usage of these techniques has allowed a better communication between the technical team and the users, enhancing the chances of meeting their needs. The preliminary results indicate the potential usage by occupational therapists, healthcare professionals, besides a number of benefits as physical, mental and wellness improvements. The mock-up must be tested and validated in future studies, applying the Single Case methodology.
Keywords
orthosis, assistive technology, QFD, multidisciplinary design, 3D printing
