May 3rd -Mini Maker Faire Chicago Northside -IL-
A mini Maker Faire with only fews 3D printers, yes it’s possible, because to be a maker is above all to put your hands on ! It was easy to learn soldering, fixing bikes…and it was so much fun ! I was there thanks to Jess from Ground Control, hey they do the same as us but for lower limb!
May 6th Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago -IL-
The RIC is a rehabilitation and research center for people with disabilty where prosthesists, doctors, ingeneers, researchers and patients work together. They work on a myoprosthesis wearable and discret that would be suitable for women, their focus is less on the degrees of freedom of the hand, but more about the interface between the body and the device (bodyware). Direct Control and Multi Pattern Recognition Control are 2 methods to control the hand:
- Direct Control: 1 sensors detects the muscular activity and permits a movement of the hand
- Multi Pattern Recogntion Control: Several sensors detects the muscular activity. For each contraction, the sum of the sensors will be set as a particular movement (opposition grasp, power grasp, lateral grasp…).
The meeting lasted about 3hours, Lara and Beth, the 2 technician prosthesist knew about the maker/open source movement going on, they actually gave me informations on an open source socket and wrist connection. The RIC use 3D printing for prototyping. Despite my little technical vocabulary, I was glad to exchange with professionals like them. I realized we are on the same path: Robustness and affordability of a myoprostesis.
May 14th Johns Hopkins University Washington -DC-
After conflicts in Irak and Afghanistan who did more mutilation than death, the DARPA decided to finance a project called « Revolutionising Prosthetics » on the development of an high sophisticated robotic hand. We went to the Applied Physic Laboratory in Washington (Johns Hopkins university) where Courtney was really kind to us answering all the questions. Then, we did a teleportation which consist to stick 18 electrodes on my forearm in order to control the 100 million$ hand by using the « multi pattern recognition control » method. We were honored by the presence of the well known Dc Chi who saw that I was able to move each of the 5 fingers independently in less than an hour. It was very intense and emotional for me, because I could see I was able to do it. To be with Dc Chi since the phone call we have had a year earlier in May 2013 about this teleoperation made my day very special! (and we struggled to have the appointment). Merci beaucoup!
May 15th Advanced Arm Dynamics -Philadelphia, PA-
10 to 20 % only of amputees are upper limb. Advanced Arm Dynamics is the only reeducation center specialized in that field. They are 5 in USA and their job is to help patients to keep on enjoying life by advising them
, or making adaptations to play guitare, biking, bow, fishing, cooking, gardening…..
We spent a few hours with Ryan, he showed us how he works and his passion for his work as a prosthesist: Manual work, being interested in people, curiosity and DIY are some of the qualities required to do this fantastic job. We had in front of us the most advanced myoprosthesis available on the market, so, yes we did compare them! (Aesthetic, speed and force of the grasp)
May 17th and 18th Maker Faire -San Mateo, CA-
A 30 min talk to present the project, meetings with Not Impossible, EnablingTheFutur, Bionic RobotHand,
1200 crazy good projects, cool ambiance, sunshine, paëla, margerita, amazing, huge, excellent Maker Faire! but stressful for me, because after all this travels, our BionicoHand was broken, and as usual at the last moment, we fixed it and it was working just in time for the talk! We won 3 prizes! Well, I think the hand deserves a good check up. 2014 is the year of the Maker! Take a solder, grab a tool and come help us at LabFab Rennes and at Maker Faire Paris the 21 and 22nd of June!
In short:
– Next step: To be able to make 3 movements (power grasp, precision grasp, index)
– The trip has been recorded for a documentary about bionic hands that will be on French TV in september!
– Winners Best US Hamburgers:
Nico: A peanut butter and banana burger in Chicago, a blast! 9/10
Fabrice: A really tasty one in an asian restaurant the last night in San Francisco. 9/10
Bionicohand 