Innovation in prosthetic arm design has been slow, largely because the market for prosthetic arms is small and the development costs are high, due to the complex functions of the hand and arm. But Jonathan Kuniholm, a marine reservist who lost his arm when his platoon was ambushed and an IED exploded on New Year's Day 2005, is trying to get innovators to collaborate online to make better prosthetic arms for amputees.
Jonathan, a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering at Duke University, founded the Open Prosthetic Project (OPP) to encourage engineers, designers and innovators to share their ideas and designs for others to examine and modify. The OPP acts as a clearinghouse of ideas--contributors are invited to join an ongoing discussion about prosthetic arm design, and to give and take ideas to and from the site. Nothing is proprietary, and the hope is that this process will encourage design improvements that will benefit the many upper limb amputees across the country and the world.
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