Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Immaculate designer prosthesis

Something that's always bothered me about traditional prostheses is the constant attempt to mimic normal human morphology. Artificial legs are supposed to look like real legs and artificial arms are supposed to look like real arms, right?

Well, that shouldn't always have to be the case. Why not think outside the box? This is an opportunity, after all, for some disabled people to express themselves and change their bodies in novel and unexpected ways.

This is exactly the perspective of Hans Alexander Huseklepp who believes that prostheses should go beyond mere functionality and become objects of fashion and identity. To this end he has designed the "Immaculate" which explores new possibilities for assistive devices.

Immaculate is a neurological prosthetic that will be connected to a user's central nervous system. The exterior of the prosthetic is textile clad in Corian plates which, in principle, will allow embedded technology to be seamlessly integrated. This material will also give the prosthetic a clear graphical identity. In addition, each joint is a globe joint, allowing a larger freedom of movement than a normal human arm.

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