Mahendra Pitale
does not have to worry about keeping everything aside to answer his mobile
phone anymore. Pitale lost his arm in the 2006 train blast at Jogeshwari. His
left hand amputated and he now looks to use a prosthetic arm in the days to
come, which will allow him to not just use the mobile through his prosthetic
arm, but also have a charger, use it as a pointer for presentations and hold
things.
Pitale was among
the participants who gave their needs to 50 odd engineers and designers
gathered to improvise on existing prototypes and turn them into physical
capabilities for Divyang. All of this was part of the five day S.T.E.A.M
(science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) Fabrikarium series
that was presented by Maker’s Asylum at their work place in Andheri.
S.T.E.A.M, a
five day project, is held under the umbrella of Bonjour India, an Indo-French
collaboration. Around 65 participants and 20 mentors from India and France were
participating in it. Some budding engineers and designers were trained on how
to use equipment such as 3D printers, laser cutters, basic electronics, and
power tools, and will learn how to solve problems by practical methods rather
than through standard rote learning practices. All work was done by taking open
source material.
In case of the
bionic hand, the parts were divided into three - socket, wrist and hand, which
could be changed for different purposes. Jeet Sanghavi, Varun Nayak and Anand
Velandy, all students who participated to take innovations from open source ahead,
worked on different parts of the bionic hand.
“Pitale needed
the hand as a holder, a laser pointer while someone else for playing the
guitar. We tried to work that out,” said Velandy.
A separate band
is placed to help people sense if an object they are holding is hot or cold.
“The red light would indicate it is hot, while a blue light would tell the
person it is cold,” said Rastogi.
Source: DNA-15th February,2018
http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2018-2-15&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2
