SBIR-STTR Award

The technology LIMBER aims to provide is an all-inclusive service that enables the rapid and scaled-up manufacturing of customized prosthetics on-demand for amputees. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that out of the tens of millions of amputees worldwide, only 5% to 15% have access to prosthetics or other assistive devices. The lack of widespread availability is because most rehabilitation devices are designed and hand-crafted by prosthetists through a complex and time-consuming process. This Phase I SBIR proposal will confirm the feasibility of LIMBER’s prosthetic design and manufacturing system that overcomes the custom-care and cost barriers by combining the latest in 3D scanning, digital design, and additive manufacturing technologies to increase the capacity of professional prosthetists and provide access to affordable and functional ‘unibody’ transtibial prosthetic limbs that are comfortable, lightweight, and automatically fabricated. LIMBER’s process leverages the structured light scanning capability embedded in smartphones to create a digital twin of an amputee from the waist down. Scanning can be accomplished in minutes by a prosthetist or trained technician, further improving efficiency and alleviating bottlenecks of the conventional process. The data is then transferred to LIMBER’s cloud, where our skilled prosthetists transform it into a personalized single-piece (socket, pylon, and ankle-foot combined) prosthetic device that is 3D printed. After working with 15 lower-limb amputees, our preliminary findings include a reduction in the average cost, weight, and time of production by 79%, 55%, and 66%, respectively.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
Narrative LIMBER’s mission is to provide worldwide accessible prosthetic care, with the vision of getting every amputee back on their feet with dignity. With this Phase 1 SBIR, LIMBER Prosthetics & Orthotics, Inc. proposes to confirm the feasibility of a new prosthetic design and manufacturing system that overcomes the custom-care and cost barriers facing amputees by combining the latest in 3D scanning, digital design, and additive manufacturing technologies to increase the capacity of professional prosthetists and provide access to affordable and functional ‘unibody’ transtibial prosthetic limbs that are comfortable, lightweight, and automatically fabricated.

Project Terms:
21+ years old; Adult Human; adulthood; Adult; Amputees; Regio tarsalis; Ankle; Back; Dorsum; Certification; Child; 0-11 years old; Child Youth; Children (0-21); kids; youngster; Diabetes Mellitus; diabetes; Engineering; Feedback; foot; Gait; Hand; hands; Lead; Pb element; heavy metal Pb; heavy metal lead; Lower Extremity; Lower Limb; Membrum inferius; Light; Photoradiation; Literature; Mission; Persons; Occupations; Jobs; Professional Positions; Orthotic Devices; Orthosis; orthotics; Legal patent; Patents; Patients; Periodicity; Cyclicity; Rhythmicity; Printing; Production; Prosthesis Design; prosthetic design; Quality of life; QOL; Research; Research Personnel; Investigators; Researchers; Running; Self-Help Devices; Assistive Technology; assisted device; assistive device; Societies; Surveys; Survey Instrument; Technology; Testing; Time; Translating; Vision; Sight; visual function; Weight; weights; Wing; Work; World Health Organization; Walking; Device Designs; Caring; customs; Custom; Prosthetic device; Prosthetics; Prosthesis; human subject; improved; Clinical; Specified; Specific qualifier value; Phase; Variation; Variant; Medical; Ensure; Training; participant recruitment; Patient Recruitments; R-Series Research Projects; R01 Mechanism; R01 Program; Research Grants; Research Projects; Research Project Grants; Industrialized Countries; Industrialized Nations; developed country; developed nation; developed nations; Developed Countries; light weight; lightweight; Limb Prosthesis; Artificial Extremities; Artificial Limbs; prosthetic limb; Mechanics; mechanic; mechanical; Complex; Scanning; Clinic; Protocols documentation; Protocol; System; 3-Dimensional; 3-D; 3D; three dimensional; Height; Visit; Postdoctoral Fellow; Postdoc; Research Associate; post-doc; post-doctoral; post-doctoral trainee; research associates; Services; experience; exoskeleton; exoskeletal; Performance; success; computer science; Structure; skills; Participant; member; Study Subject; Devices; Modeling; Cell Phone; Cellular Telephone; Mobile Phones; iPhone; smart phone; smartphone; Cellular Phone; ward; ACVR1 gene; ACTRI; ACVR1; ACVRLK2; ALK2; Activin A Receptor, Type II-Like Kinase 2 Gene; Activin Receptor-Like Kinase 2 Gene; SKR1; Type I Gene Activin A Receptor; Data; Doctor of Philosophy; Ph.D.; PhD; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; SBIR; Small Business Innovation Research; Monitor; Process; Image; imaging; cost; digital; designing; design; Outcome; rehab device; Rehabilitation device; manufacturing process; Consumption; innovate; innovative; innovation; multidisciplinary; stem; commercialization; commercial scale manufacturing; manufacturing ramp-up; scale up batch; scale up production; upscale manufacturing; manufacturing scale-up; 3-D print; 3-D printer; 3D printer; 3D printing; three dimensional printing; 3D Print; Aerospace Engineering; prosthetic socket; materials science; remote care; remote healthcare; remote health care; subject safety; participant safety; digital twin; manufacture; manufacturing technology; fabrication technology; manufacturing systems