Curing Europe's foot problems with 3D printing

200 million Europeans suffer from disabling foot and ankle problems. Splints and orthotic insoles are normally made using the traditional manufacturing processes; impression casts, hand crafting etc. These are time consuming, expensive and make repeat prescriptions very difficult to reproduce. prsnlz.me reports.

A-Footprint want to change all that with the help of 3D printing. The European study group, headed up by Glasgow Caledonian University’s Professor Jim Woodburn, received EC backing to the tune of €3.7million ($5.6million) to develop a process to speed up and improve the customisation of orthoses.

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Related: - 3D Printed shoes in Kenya, to alleviate jigger sufferers

3D Printed shoes in Kenya, to alleviate jigger sufferers

Roy Ombatti - Nairobi University from william hoyle on Vimeo.

Innovation Africa reports on 3D Printing in an article entitled Imaginarium | Tapping into 3D Printing. via @jranck.

One project described here caught my eye. Called Happy Feet, it was one of the contestants in The 3D 4D Challence which took place in London last October. The slogan was “Relieving Poverty Encouraging Innovation.”

Among the contestants were Roy Ombatti and Harris Nyali from University of Nairobi’s Fablab. Their project, Happy Feet, aims to solve the jigger menace in Kenya by using 3d printing to make customised shoes for people suffering from Jigger. Thus a right shoe can be made differently than a left, depending on the level of infestation.

Jiggers are tiny parasites that resemble fleas. They embed themselves in the feet, hands or other exposed body parts of animals, including humans. Serious infestations may lead to severe inflammation leading to loss of toenails, auto amputation of digits, and death may also occur. The risk of secondary infection, such as tetanus, is also high. Jiggers live in dusty conditions and other unhygienic environments, and are generally associated with poverty-stricken populations.

The shoes would be manufactured from reused plastic and would also be recyclable once they are worn out. Apart from the potential help that this project could bring to people affected by the jigger infestation, it can also provide employment for people.

The Winner of the 3D 4D Challenge was Washington Open Object Fabricators (WOOF). WOOF’s winning project will enable waste plastic to be used as filament for 3D printing machines, to create new products.

3D printing: Can it help people in disasters?

Imagine if after an earthquake you could airdrop machines that build houses in under a day. Imagine if you had cheap and accessible medical kits that could produce bespoke medicine on demand. Imagine if you could fabricate shoes, clothes, solar cells, lamps, toilets, pipes, water pumps, and just about anything else on site and at the touch of a button.

The scenario is still a fantasy, but could a process called 3D printing ever make it a reality? Could the technology ever make a significant impression on the humanitarian world? Ian Byrne reports for trust.org.

3D printing could make a huge difference to emergency responses, saving a fortune by printing things like tools, basic items and equipment on the ground from recycled materials, rather than flying them in from other countries,” said Steve Haines, mobilisation director for global campaigns at Save the Children International.

“The technology needs more work to make it reliable to use in these contexts, but the opportunities are endless.”

Read full article. Image from engadget.

Related: - 3D printer could build a house in 20 hours