Canadian designer Sébastien Dubois was recognized for his low-cost, high-quality prosthesis design at the INDEX: AWARD, the world's biggest design awards event, August 24 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Dubois' prosthetic foot, winner of the "Body Award," can be produced in any conventional workshop at the approximate cost of $8, thousands of dollars less than the usual cost for a quality prosthesis. Called Mobility for Each One, the energy-return prosthesis is made from easy-to-find materials and can be fitted to various types of upper-leg prosthetics. It also meets the standards of Red Cross.
Ignaas Verpoest, jury member for the International Composites Design Competition, which named Mobility for Each One as its prototype winner in early 2007, said: "Sébastien Dubois' design is not absolutely original. Top athletes in the Paralympics have used prostheses like these for many years, as have ordinary people who have had their lower leg amputated. The Flex-Foot® was developed almost 25 years ago&. This high-tech prosthesis has since been further perfected to improve comfort and performance. Unfortunately enough it has proven very hard to come by for the people who have needed it most: the victims of landmines, particularly those in developing countries.
"It is for this reason that Sébastien Dubois has designed his prosthesis entirely with the needs of these people in mind. In the place of carbon fiber he uses glass fiber, and not simply because it is ten times cheaper. Glass fiber is less rigid but still almost as strong as carbon fiber, so it has a greater elongation at break. It is therefore more reliable, a significant advantage when used in difficult circumstances in remote areas.& The glass fiber is placed in a wooden mould, impregnated by hand, and put in a plastic bag from which the air is extracted during curing. These are all extremely simple operations, which can be carried [out] by anyone with a little technical aptitude and which require only a small investment in production infrastructure. This means that the costs can be kept extremely low. Furthermore, production can be managed locally, by small communities in developing countries."
Verpoest went on to mention that the upper section of Dubois' prosthesis has a slightly curved cross section, through which suppleness can be optimized and less composite material is needed, making it much easier to manufacture.
