Creating a thought-controlled, 3D-printed bionic arm with Artec Eva

Then at the age of 12, Paul received his first myoelectric prosthesis (with an Ottobock hand). It was a milestone for him, as it was the first time he could grip and hold things using his left arm. From this day on, he wore his prosthesis every day. Even so, this new arm allowed him to bend his elbow only 30 degrees, which was an improvement, but still left much to be desired.

Carsten Suhle, Orthopedic Technician

Ever since Sanitätshaus Klinz opened its doors in 1990 Gerd Klinz, the owner and founder, has had a guiding light of being at the forefront of innovation and patient comfort, all so they can bring the maximum levels of mobility and independence to their patients. In the company’s everyday work, they’ve used lathes, glue, plaster molds, fiberglass, CNC milling, as well as modern materials and tools and technologies such as 3D scanning and 3D printing, Kevlar, various types of plastics, etc. They have multiple branches around Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, and patients coming to them from other parts of the country as well as flying in from abroad.

Inspecting a plaster cast prior to scanning

Maria Köhlitz, Sanitätshaus Klinz's orthopedic designer, explained: “We used and tested several 3D scanners in the past, including GO!Scan by Creaform and the Kinect 3D scanner, but every scanner we tried was either not able to provide the accuracy we need, or the frame rate for captures was simply not high enough,” she went on, “So when patients moved during the scan, as patients sometimes do, those scanners lost tracking and we needed to scan the area once again, or the resulting scans were so badly done that editing and aligning them during post-processing was too difficult.”

Carsten elaborated, “When I first began to look at 3D scanners, I imagined that we could just make up for any shortcomings in the scanner by becoming more skilled with the scan processing. But that didn’t work. When you start out with flawed data, you can spend hours and hours with it, and it will never be perfect,” he went on, “Think about if you drop a vase and then spend lots of time gluing it back together. Yes, eventually it may look new again, but close inspection will reveal the cracks. It’s much better not to drop the vase in the first place.”

“Start with flawlessly clean data and lifelike scans. That’s what our Artec Eva gives us.”
–Carsten Suhle, Orthopedic Technician

A handheld color 3D structured light scanner with an extraordinary point accuracy of up to .05mm, Artec Space Spider excels at scanning small objects quickly, and is easy to learn and use, with a long-standing track record of perfectly scanning fingers, hands, ears, faces, and more. During the digital capture process, scanning takes place directly within the industry-acclaimed Artec Studio software in real time. Both Eva and Space Spider are fluidly integrated with Geomagic Freeform modelling software.

As demonstrated in the video, compared to the traditional method of plaster casting, Artec Eva can be a huge time saver. In the example shown, the 2.5 hours required from start to finish with casting was contrasted with only 12 minutes from start to finish with Eva. And that’s in addition to the guarantees of the utmost in both precision and accuracy of Artec’s professional handheld 3D scanners, not to mention the utter convenience of having a perfect digital archive on hand for future use. Such technological advantages are impossible to ignore.

Close-up of the elbow joint of Paul’s new arm

Paul is one of more than 100 patients they’ve scanned and created cutting-edge orthopedic and prosthetic solutions for. As Maria Köhlitz said, “In the beginning, we purchased Artec Eva, because we wanted to scan the arms and legs of patients. And for this, Eva is the perfect choice. But we then wanted to expand our range of design and creation down to the fingers and small joints, so we purchased a Space Spider. Now the scans and level of detail are so impressive, we can even perfectly see the fingerprints in the scans we’re making.”

Paul enjoying the freedom of his new bionic arm

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Refusing to feel limited or disabled ever again, today Paul has the freedom to indulge in his favorite hobbies: riding and restoring mopeds and motorcycles. His new bionic arm and hand keep up with him every step of the way, allowing him to grip wrenches and screwdrivers, parts great and small, with ten fingers dexterous enough to handle washers and spark plugs, and everything he'd been dreaming of since he was a boy.

The German government health insurance system has decided to nationally endorse 3D scanning and printing of prostheses as superior than the traditional methods of designing and creating orthoses and prostheses. They made this decision not merely because 3D scanning is more cost effective in the short run, but also due to long-term durability, as well as the elevated levels of patient comfort and mobility, both during examination and fitting, together with long-term patient use and reduced frequency of office visits needed. Germany’s health insurance understands that 3D scanning is the future of prosthetics and orthotics.

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