Teenager builds his own Lego prosthetic arms | Hacker News Reader

Teenager builds his own Lego prosthetic arms

abc.net.au

160 pointscromulent31 comments

> After graduating from university, he wants to create affordable prosthetic solutions for people who need them.

Builds them out of Lego.

Hmm.

But seriously, this is super cool. Prosthetics are usually ultra-expensive because they get the double whammy of being bespoke and medical devices. There's a real opportunity for the hacker community to do a lot of good here.

> > affordable

> Builds them out of Lego.

> Hmm.

Perhaps he should use Mega Bloks instead.

Not if he wants his arm to stay together!

I'm assuming he's using the Kragle.

Looks like the hacker community is already on it! :)

https://medium.com/@ATN_Events/accessible-tech-in-employment...

I've recently found that the price of Lego - at least on the used/second-hand market - has fallen, depending on what you are looking for.

Complete sets are still hella-expensive - especially vintage ones. Certain custom models can also be very expensive. Lego Mindstorms of the past two generations (NXT and EV3) are also still up there in price.

But bulk Mindstorms, Technic and Expert Builder are all still fairly cheap (just stay away from pneumatics - that stuff is still pricey for some reason).

I have found the Mindstorms RCX 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 (aka - yellow programmable brick) are all fairly cheap. The touch and light sensors aren't too expensive, and the going price for the PB is around $30.00 USD. Rotation sensors can be up there sometimes, and the temperature sensor is hard to find and expensive. Motors are cheap though (the 9 volt block ones) - most can be had for around $15.00 each.

Bulk parts are similarly low cost. Even the NXT and EV3 motors and sensors are fairly inexpensive (not as cheap as the older RCX, but not crazy). Since they use standard interfaces and connections, they can be easily controlled using a Raspberry Pi or Arduino. The RCX takes a bit more work (you have to use an h-bridge for each motor, and sensors require an ADC; easy on the Arduino, but you need something external for the Pi).

The various Mindstorms "Vision Command" and similar cameras are also fairly cheap; they aren't anything special - very low-res (352x488 IIRC) web cameras in a Lego enclosure. But you can get them to work with Linux (you have to preload the V4L1 library before executing a program like cheese or whatnot) - this used to not be the case (no driver existed about 8 or so years ago).

But yeah - if you're ok with hitting the second-hand market via Ebay or garage sales, you'll find it's now fairly cheap (again, staying away from things like the latest Mindstorms).

Oh! I also found that the Lego Dacta Control Lab (9751) interface can also be found cheaply - you can get 'em for $40-50 USD; they work with all the old 9V sensors and motors for the RCX. I've read that you can use a USB to DB9 serial port converter with them, and there is a ton of 3rd party libraries out there for control (I found ones in C, C#, Python, and Java).

ah vintage ones.. Ice Planet 2002 serie, one day I'll complete you ;)

but exactly, when you spent decent amount of time at websites like bricklink you can complete sets for a fairly lower price than usual.

It's always a good idea to check the local online market platforms as well.

2002 isn't vintage. Now get off my lawn.

Edit: It isn't from 2002 its from 1993/94 [1], I'll buy some cookies, then get off my lawn :)

[1] https://lego.fandom.com/wiki/Ice_Planet_2002

1993 isn’t vintage... ok this could go on and on!

Reading around, vintage seems to be pinned at about 25 - 30 years, so it is on the cusp.

I'll get off your lawn now.

You need an h-bridge for the NXT and EV3 motors too.

Perhaps you're thinking of some of the power functions motors?

> pneumatics - that stuff is still pricey for some reason

To hazard a guess, Lego's pneumatic sets tend to use just a couple pistons, while hobbyists buying the stuff want to do entire pneumatic-centric builds with many of them. Also the hoses break more often than other pieces.

Hey do you have an email that I can reach you at?

The legos he used here look like a total of $50 second hand.

In a kit, LEGO pieces average about $0.10 each depending on the specific kit. Even a Mindstorms set (which this seems based off of) would only be a couple hundred dollars. Not bad for a customizable and reusable prototype replacement for a prosthetic.

There are some open source designs for cheap 3D printed prosthetics and a volunteer network to build them for people.

http://enablingthefuture.org/

I love stories like this. Honestly, I can't think of a better prototypical example of the "hacker ethos" that this guy and what he built. Kudos and thanks for the inspiration!

You might find the Merkur construction set and its relation to contact lenses very interesting: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Wichterle

Here's a video of one of his prosthetic arms in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrWckNLgshc

> In a presentation video on his YouTube channel that he runs under the nickname Hand Solo, the Andorran said his aim was to show people nothing is impossible and disability cannot stop them.

It annoyed me more than it should that they did not link to his channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSjwgNfrF5oTp1PdBrsptKA

Wow that is incredible. Nicely done!

If then uses his prosthetics to create better prosthetics, does qualify as singularity?

OMG! Thanks for the story. It's so inspiring. We need such good news everyday

that is really awesome. thanks for sharing!

I think when he actually go into production and jumps through all the regulatory hopes, it's probably not going to be that affordable any more.

It could be open source and even 3D printable.

Is Spain highly regulated? Still might be helpful in other countries around the world.

It just needs to be a set of instructions. No need to make a business out of it. Could be hosted on Github/Gitlab or pretty much any other collaborative version control system and the design could be documented in Lego Digital Designer or similar programs. Of course the real thing probably would be better made out of special purpose parts but Lego would still be a good starting point for many experiments.