Ugani improves low-cost prosthetics for developing countries
Ugani improves low-cost prosthetics for developing countries
Ugani Prosthetics is a Flemish social startup whose mission is to bring down the prices of prosthetics. This makes them more broadly accessible for people in low-income countries. Lean management, supply chain optimization, frugal innovation, and digitalization are some of the techniques used to accomplish this goal.
ENGINEERING NEED
A prosthetic consists of several components. At the bottom, there is an artificial foot, followed by a connector, a shin pylon, another connector, and then the socket, which is the connection with the residual limb. Ugani already improved the socket by using 3D technology, scanning the limb and then 3D printing a custom socket. This technique lowered the price and the delivery time while increasing the comfort for the patient.
Next up was the shin tube with its connectors on both sides. Today, these are sold by many international players at prices ranging from hundreds to thousands of euros. After some early brainstorming within the Ugani team, they called on the expertise of Flanders Make to help out in the further development.
FlandersMake@VUB
Ugani got in contact with our coworkers from Flanders Make@VUB, specializing in the design, innovation, and development of human-robot interactions in general, while also applying this knowledge in prosthetic devices. This was a good fit with Ugani to further develop the prototype from their 30 years of experience.
As our engineers started sifting through existing research, the Ugani team left for Benin to better understand the local needs and production environment.
