The Prosthetics and Assistive Technology Challenge event is July 28-29 in Richmond, Virginia
Stratasys Ltd. (Nasdaq:SSYS), a leading global provider of 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions, will participate in the Prosthetics and Assistive Technology Challenge, a two-day event hosted by the VA Assistive Technology Program and VA Center for Innovation, July 28-29 in Richmond, Virginia at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center.
This unique event gives designers from the general public the opportunity to shape lives by improving the care and quality of life for Veterans by creating personalized, tailored 3D printed devices. For the event, Stratasys is providing 14 3D printers and production systems including a Fortus 450mc, three Fortus 250mc, six uPrint, three Mojo and one MakerBot. Stratasys engineers will be on hand to work with design teams through the two-day design challenge. Designs for the event were submitted through Stratasys' open-sourced collaboration platform, GrabCAD.
"Stratasys is proud to collaborate with the VA to improve the lives of Veterans," said Michael Gaisford, marketing program director for medical solutions at Stratasys. "This event is an ideal application of 3D printing to innovate designs to create custom, personalized devices that couldn't have been made with traditional manufacturing. Stratasys is enabling prosthetics, orthotics, and assistive devices where one can affordably go from scan to design to print in a digital-only environment."
Event participants will have the opportunity to present problems impacting differently-abled Veterans. Based on these pitches, teams will form and use designs submitted on GrabCAD, along with mentorship support from Veterans and Stratasys technical experts, to co-design and develop their ideas. Teams will 3D print their designs on Stratasys 3D Printers to allow them to test and refine the designs during the event.
"The collaboration with Stratasys is critical to accelerate the development of personalized assistive technologies and prosthetics for differently-abled Veterans. At this event, we can co-create and build designs based on each Veteran's unique needs and obtain their feedback in a very agile, tailored pathway," said Andrea Ippolito, presidential innovation fellow for the VA.
Prior to the event, Stratasys has been working with Veteran Kim Matthews who has an essential hand tremor. "When looking at the designs I was actually in tears over the thought of all of these wonderful people going out of their way to help. I was a bit overwhelmed and in awe of them; not only the intelligence that they possess, but all the hard work they are putting into this for us. Part of me felt like a kid at Christmas filled with happiness thinking that for once I could feel normal like others who do not have this disability."
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