ITERATE worked alongside Ambionics to create a lower arm prosthetic that leveraged the capability of this new technology. Prosthetics are often difficult to manually assemble due to their complexity and are also weight critical. Prosthetics that are uncomfortable to wear, over sized or too heavy are rejected by the user. This prosthetic incorporated silver ink tracks, which removed the need for copper wires. Using a myro sensor connected to a linear actuator, the thumb opens and closes to create a firm grip when the user tenses a functional part of their arm, which is located inside the socket.

Through the undertaking of this project, ITERATE accumulated a vast amount of knowledge on how to design 3D printed polymer parts that integrate conductive tracks. This new technology has the capability to create fully functional electro-mechanical products straight off the machine bed. The 5-axis capability ensures that the parts created has a much higher structural integrity than those created on a traditional 3-axis machine. Whilst this project concentrated on producing a lower arm prosthetic, the potential for this technology to be applied across the aerospace, automotive, medical, consumer and industrial sectors is huge!