Ozzie had quite a week spending every day getting used to his new leg and practicing walking. We adapted the foot on the one prosthetic to make it larger to match his other foot and did some tests to evaluate what design changes would need to be implemented to improve the current designs.We learnt much from the test samples he used this week and now have a much better understanding of what needs to be done. Our ext step is to apply the design changes and 3D print them for our next phase of tests, if they are successful we can start planning the final high end print. We have a few ideas regarding covering the print in a rubber like material that could assist with more flex and grip ad our prediction is that the final design will be a more skeleton-like 3D print with cast rubber encapsulating the print. This will most likely feature in our next attempt.
The newly printed foot freshly printed on an Up-mini printer, available from 3D Printing Systems
Close up of the foot still on the platform, after the foot is removed it is cleaned up by removing excess support material, if you look closely you ca see the layers of material as the printer deposited them.
A very upset Ozzie, his prosthetic test leg broke the day before we arrived so he could go out and play the morning, luckily we came with a new one 🙂
Ozzie attempting walking, he still has some issues and uses his wings to help with balance but he is improving and getting more confident every day.
Our interview with the SABC news team, Ozzie looks like he wants to say something ..
Ozzie warming up to me 🙂
A video compilation showing Ozzie trying to walk without his leg and then with it.
Keep an eye out for future updates, coming soon!