3 ms·

It's a reminder of how liberating it can be to have modular tools. Prosthetics are a bad fit for our current industry as they need to be customized for each we

It's a reminder of how liberating it can be to have modular tools. Prosthetics are a bad fit for our current industry as they need to be customized for each wearer. Lego is quite intuitive to understand, most wearer could adjust their prosthetics themselves, or make extensions. I wish we had more "legos but for real projects". Is it LEGO technic? Aluminium profiles come close, but the ecosystem is jus way smaller, and not really compatible between brands. OpensourceEcology (https://www.opensourceecology.org/ https://www.opensourceecology.org/) has been making interesting progress in that direction, but I don't know what scale they embrace modularity at.

makeitdouble 5y ago
I’d argue that’s 3d printing’s niche. Bricks are either expensive or require very long wait cycles to get the right parts from remote vendors (mostly China). They are also relatively big, which makes tight builds difficult, and they require a decent amount of expertise and building technique to make anything non trivial (that’s putting aside the mechanical knowledge that would be need whatever the material used). For purely mechanical prosthetics it’s less of an issue, but adding electronics is also a PITA if size/weight matters in any way. As an example, this youtube channel (https://youtube.com/c/BrickExperimentChannel https://youtube.com/c/BrickExperimentChannel) has some pretty advanced builds, and it often comes down to bricks as a frame/skeleton, and custom parts for the critical core. In comparison 3d printing has a way higher upfront learning curve, but the people trying to build these contraption aren’t doing it for fun and would arguably be motivated to invest time and effort to make things better in the long run (they’d have to do it anyway even with bricks).
- _carbyau_ 5y ago
  The high upfront learning curve for 3D printing is somewhat of a barrier to DIY. However Shapeways/Thingiverse/etc will print from a large library of models and ship it. I suspect the big issue is the custom fitting. Assuming a standardised approach to custom fitting exists then standard models could be made available for purchase without insane amounts of effort. The fact someone is making prosthetics out of lego strongly suggests that such a standardised approach exists.
amenghra 5y ago
Meccano might work too? Not much cheaper than Lego but they have their pros and cons. The pieces are flexible for one.

makeitdouble 5y ago

I’d argue that’s 3d printing’s niche. Bricks are either expensive or require very long wait cycles to get the right parts from remote vendors (mostly China). They are also relatively big, which makes tight builds difficult, and they require a decent amount of expertise and building technique to make anything non trivial (that’s putting aside the mechanical knowledge that would be need whatever the material used). For purely mechanical prosthetics it’s less of an issue, but adding electronics is also a PITA if size/weight matters in any way. As an example, this youtube channel (https://youtube.com/c/BrickExperimentChannel https://youtube.com/c/BrickExperimentChannel) has some pretty advanced builds, and it often comes down to bricks as a frame/skeleton, and custom parts for the critical core. In comparison 3d printing has a way higher upfront learning curve, but the people trying to build these contraption aren’t doing it for fun and would arguably be motivated to invest time and effort to make things better in the long run (they’d have to do it anyway even with bricks).

_carbyau_ 5y ago
The high upfront learning curve for 3D printing is somewhat of a barrier to DIY. However Shapeways/Thingiverse/etc will print from a large library of models and ship it. I suspect the big issue is the custom fitting. Assuming a standardised approach to custom fitting exists then standard models could be made available for purchase without insane amounts of effort. The fact someone is making prosthetics out of lego strongly suggests that such a standardised approach exists.

amenghra 5y ago

Meccano might work too? Not much cheaper than Lego but they have their pros and cons. The pieces are flexible for one.