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ARM / Arm Prosthesis Race

Bionicohand

FranceFrance

About the Team

Bionicohand is a collaborative project led by the My Human Kit Association (NPO). There is no team working everyday together in a specific place, but actors located in different cities working in partnership with My Human Kit. Team members include a hand amputee (Nicolas), a mechanical teacher (Henri), digital science researchers (Christine, Christophe, Roger), prosthetists (Yann), mechanical and electronic engineers (Jean, Côme, Sébastien, Christian, Michel). Some of them are volunteers, some are employed in their own company and work with My Human Kit through skills sponsorship :

  • -Saint Aubin La Salle, high school-

  • -J-F Tech, independent engineer-

  • -INRIA, National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology-

  • -Orthopus, handitech solutions-

  • -OPR, professionnal orthotists and prosthetists-

About the Pilot

Nicolas Huchet was born in 1983 and lost his hand in a mechanical factory at the age of 18. He quickly came back to a "normal" life after he learned how to use a myoelectric hand, but he was unhappy with it because of recurrent breakdown. In 2012 when he discovered Fablabs, he made a 3D printed and open source bionic hand thanks to the maker community and realized "the power of disability" by learning how to make his own bionic hand. With his crew, they founded the NPO My Human Kit Association and opened the first fablab where disabled people have access to human resources and tools to be part of the fabrication process of their own assistive device.

For the last 10 years, Nicolas has made other 3D printed open source bionic hands, tested the latest commercialized myoelectric hands on the market and participated to research programs in order to become a specialist in the field of myoelectric upper limb prosthetics. He came up with one conclusion : among all the solutions, none of them is both accessible and acceptable. He is boss Project Manager and Pilot in the Bionicohand team.

He is now considered as an Expert Patient by helping other hand amputees to find the appropriate device, he is a speaker around the world and received the MIT Social Innovator -35 recognition in 2015.

About the Device

The device is a first of its kind : An acceptable and open source myoelectric hand made through a solidarity and educative network with an amputee as the project leader.

To be acceptable for a maximum of people, the hand must be lightweight, aesthetic, easy to use with the possibility to be fixed by the user :

  • The weight of the hand must be around 400g

  • The hand is anthropomorphic, fingers tips are 3D printed and can be customized

  • The hand is capable of 2 grasps through a thumb abduction using 2 EMG electrodes

  • A Manual Guide is provided for self repairing

  • All files are open source

Videos

Impressions

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