Reinforced airsoft arm prosthesis
Each traction prosthetic arm, which we create, takes into account the individual characteristics of a person's injury and wishes in color. Someone may not have all the fingers of his hand, someone may have his thumb or little finger saved - there may be many options. Based on these data and the wishes of the user, the designer makes the necessary changes in the design of the prosthesis. Once a request came from the Chelyabinsk region to us: to adapt a prosthetic arm for airsoft.
Anton is 29 years old, he has no right hand since birth. One of his hobbies is airsoft. Airsoft is a kind of tactical war games in the fresh air. Its feature is the maximum copying, military units of various countries. All the ammunition and game weapons in their external contours, shape, weight resembles the present. Anton's airsoft gaming machine, MP5, weighs almost 4 kg due to body kit and twin charged stores.
Earlier in the game, Anton used a cosmetic prosthesis. In the game, cosmetics showed itself to be reliable, but one-functional - you could only insert the handle of the weapon into the prosthesis and that's all. He also wanted to expand his functionality, so it was necessary to create a prosthesis with which you can perform more actions in the game and more quickly: take and release a tactical handle, take out and change the clip.
What is waiting for our prosthesis in a real airsoft fight? Running, falling, hitting the obstacles, hooking the trees, while the prosthesis should allow to hold the weapon. Hence the task for the designer: to prepare the prosthesis for increased loads - to strengthen it. Short and succinctly.
Due to the material used for 3D printing of the prosthesis - white polyamide , the basic version of "KIBI" has sufficient strength to perform household operations. Last summer, we specially subjected the prosthesis to various tests in order to find out the limits of its endurance. If it is interesting, then see how we burned it, broke it, kicked it and mocked it in every possible way in the name of the Great Experiment, you can in this video.
It was decided to approach the solution of the problem in a comprehensive manner. The first obvious point was the thickening of the parts of the hand and the connector of the hand and forearm. Then all the fastening elements were reinforced, because everything that can be broken off, torn off, will be broken off, torn off, in the heat of the struggle is not up to tenderness.
Next in line was the fastening of the cult-receiver sleeve. We increased the contact area of the injured hand with the sleeve itself and the number of attachment points for both the palm part and the sleeve. It remained only to deal with the fingers. Here we applied the fastening scheme along two planes; for this, the mating parts were made in the form of trapezoids, and the axes were thickened. Additionally, we protected our fingers from falling out due to vibration and shock.
The blows of the prosthesis survived. See:
But this is not the most difficult test, which happened to pass the prosthetic arm. In one of the battles, the reinforced design of the gadget was seriously tested. Anton will tell about her himself.
When we make traction prostheses for children, we usually paint them in bright colors. Adult users prefer neutral - beige, gray. In the case of airsoft prosthesis, the choice of color was unambiguous - protective. We also stylized it under a tactical glove. All for the sake of stealth and overall harmony in the harsh image of airsoft!
The most interesting thing was to see how the prosthesis copes with one of the tasks - shooting. Anton promised to send us a video and did not make him wait long. See how you can shoot an airsoft gun with a hand prosthesis:
Now Anton is in contact with the design engineer who worked on his prosthesis. There are a few more ideas on how to improve the prosthesis. For example, test new types of cables to improve performance.
And we have an offer for you. If you are an engineer, then invent and sketch a drawing or design a nozzle that will be useful in airsoft or another active form of recreation: climbing, cycling and others.
We will evaluate the feasibility of your development, we will print the most functional one, and we will invite its author to our laboratory for tea. Or maybe we’ll invite you to our team, we have just opened several vacancies for those who want to improve cyborg.
Anton is 29 years old, he has no right hand since birth. One of his hobbies is airsoft. Airsoft is a kind of tactical war games in the fresh air. Its feature is the maximum copying, military units of various countries. All the ammunition and game weapons in their external contours, shape, weight resembles the present. Anton's airsoft gaming machine, MP5, weighs almost 4 kg due to body kit and twin charged stores.
Earlier in the game, Anton used a cosmetic prosthesis. In the game, cosmetics showed itself to be reliable, but one-functional - you could only insert the handle of the weapon into the prosthesis and that's all. He also wanted to expand his functionality, so it was necessary to create a prosthesis with which you can perform more actions in the game and more quickly: take and release a tactical handle, take out and change the clip.
What is waiting for our prosthesis in a real airsoft fight? Running, falling, hitting the obstacles, hooking the trees, while the prosthesis should allow to hold the weapon. Hence the task for the designer: to prepare the prosthesis for increased loads - to strengthen it. Short and succinctly.
Lyrically retreat
Due to the material used for 3D printing of the prosthesis - white polyamide , the basic version of "KIBI" has sufficient strength to perform household operations. Last summer, we specially subjected the prosthesis to various tests in order to find out the limits of its endurance. If it is interesting, then see how we burned it, broke it, kicked it and mocked it in every possible way in the name of the Great Experiment, you can in this video.
Preparing prosthesis for battle
It was decided to approach the solution of the problem in a comprehensive manner. The first obvious point was the thickening of the parts of the hand and the connector of the hand and forearm. Then all the fastening elements were reinforced, because everything that can be broken off, torn off, will be broken off, torn off, in the heat of the struggle is not up to tenderness.
Next in line was the fastening of the cult-receiver sleeve. We increased the contact area of the injured hand with the sleeve itself and the number of attachment points for both the palm part and the sleeve. It remained only to deal with the fingers. Here we applied the fastening scheme along two planes; for this, the mating parts were made in the form of trapezoids, and the axes were thickened. Additionally, we protected our fingers from falling out due to vibration and shock.
The blows of the prosthesis survived. See:
But this is not the most difficult test, which happened to pass the prosthetic arm. In one of the battles, the reinforced design of the gadget was seriously tested. Anton will tell about her himself.
Masking the prosthesis
When we make traction prostheses for children, we usually paint them in bright colors. Adult users prefer neutral - beige, gray. In the case of airsoft prosthesis, the choice of color was unambiguous - protective. We also stylized it under a tactical glove. All for the sake of stealth and overall harmony in the harsh image of airsoft!
Field trials
The most interesting thing was to see how the prosthesis copes with one of the tasks - shooting. Anton promised to send us a video and did not make him wait long. See how you can shoot an airsoft gun with a hand prosthesis:
Now Anton is in contact with the design engineer who worked on his prosthesis. There are a few more ideas on how to improve the prosthesis. For example, test new types of cables to improve performance.
(Without) smart tea in Skolkovo
And we have an offer for you. If you are an engineer, then invent and sketch a drawing or design a nozzle that will be useful in airsoft or another active form of recreation: climbing, cycling and others.
We will evaluate the feasibility of your development, we will print the most functional one, and we will invite its author to our laboratory for tea. Or maybe we’ll invite you to our team, we have just opened several vacancies for those who want to improve cyborg.