About Ambionics
My name is Ben. I’ve been on an extraordinary journey over the past two years which started when my son was born. Sadly, Sol lost most of his lower left arm due to a blood clot following an injury at birth.
I responded as any parent would have. I looked into how Sol would be treated and what support we could expect. I quickly learned that many toddlers abandon prosthetics early on and I wanted to know why so Sol would stand a better chance. Calling on my psychology background and my passion for engineering, I started doing my own research. I noticed big gaps in what was being offered and saw lost opportunities at several key stages. Rather than complain, I decided to do something about it and set up Ambionics.
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(Above) Dressing change at Alder Hey Children's Hospital post-amputation
We deliver a totally new kind of online service and are currently developing unique functional prosthetic solutions (including our world famous hydraulic technology) for children with upper limb differences everywhere.
Our first press release (March 1 this year) went viral. The response was truly out of this world and our story was covered in every Country and in every language. Most of the media attention centred on the hydraulic prototype we are working on.
It's inspired by the way spiders use fluid to move their legs (to find out more please follow the press links below). However, there is much more to Ambionics besides this. Let me explain...
Early Intervention
Children are usually given their first prosthetic arm between 6 and 12 months of age. We introduce prosthetics much sooner - one month after an amputation (as in the case of my son) or from the moment a child with a limb difference arrives home from hospital. The director for innovation at NHS Wales described our research based approach as ‘potentially revolutionary’.
Replace casting with scanning
Normally parents must take time off work to attend appointments at specialist centres which might be hundreds of miles away from where they live. A prosthetist then creates a plaster cast mould of the affected arm and this is used to make a crude socket. Young children often find this stressful. They can wriggle and resist when the cast is taken and any sudden jerk can result in a poor fitting socket and a poor first experience of prosthetics.
At Ambionics, parents simply scan their child’s arm while they are asleep then upload the file to our online platform. We do the rest and deliver the prosthetic through the postal service! Simple! It takes about five minutes to do the scan and 40 minutes for us to model a socket. It’s worth noting that within two years all phones and hand held devices will come with a scanning application built in.
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(above) The first 3D printed prototype, April 2016
5 Day Turn Around (compared to 6 - 11 weeks)
A traditional prosthetic can take as long as 11 weeks to make.
From a fresh scan, we can produce a new arm within a matter of hours
Backup Copies
If a traditional prosthetic is misplaced or damaged it can take five weeks to get an appointment for a re-mould, and another 11 weeks before the replacement arm arrives (that’s four months without an arm!). At Ambionics we just print another from the digital copy we keep.
Reduced Waste
Traditional prosthetics are discarded after use. To help keep costs down and reduce our carbon footprint, Ambionics only replace parts that need replacing or upgrading – this is usually just the detachable socket.
Managing Growth Rates
Traditionally, children receive two arms per year (based on NHS service) which means that for a lot of the time the socket is either too tight or too loose. Plaster cast arms are designed to be slightly oversized so children can grow into them. This is a false economy in our opinion because loose or unsecure arms and ones that are too tight don’t inspire confidence. It’s easy to see why so many children stop wearing them. We recommend at least four or five sockets per year depending on the needs of the child.
Making Devices More Accessible
In most cases, cosmetic arms are made of fibre glass coated in varnish with a functionless silicone hand (often described as creepy looking). These are surprisingly expensive for what they are! In the US, a cosmetic arm can cost as much as $5,000! Our knowledge of 3D printing and scanning has the potential to seriously reduce these costs, making prosthetics accessible to children everywhere (and anywhere!)
We also believe in customising the look of the hand. We want to help break the stigma of 'cosmetic' prosthetic devices by offering bold colours and a choice of designs for infants.
We even encourage older children to take part in the design process. What better way to meet a young person's needs than to enable them to produce their own assistive devices and accessories!
For a more detailed write-up of the background, the importance of early intervention and the cutting edge science of Ambionics, please read this article
Why Crowd Fund?
On April 10 we announced that we are offering 20 families the chance to participate in our BETA programme - a free trial of the Ambionics service.
Within 24 hours of the announcement, over 30 families from 9 countries (from 5 continents) registered their interest. The desire to help us to iron out creases and revolutionise infant prosthetics has been overwhelming – from families, from within the life science industry and through the NHS here in Wales.
We are working alongside several multi-national companies including Autodesk and Stratasys with the research being conducted through Bangor University. These amazing organisations immediately recognised Ambionics' potential and have helped us in several important ways. However, there are only four team members at Ambionics and only two of us work on a full time basis (myself and Jason Griggs). We currently volunteer our time for Ambionics for free but our savings have run out and we are not ready for investment yet. As much as we love doing this we have financial commitments just like everyone else. We had two options – go for a bank loan or try crowd funding.
We are looking for contributions which will allow us to buy equipment for prototyping our unique hydraulic products and helping us to complete the beta trials. We have had a lot of interest from investors but we are not quite ‘investor ready’ yet and are still working on the business plan - the trials will provide the missing information that we need. For now we are depending on the goodwill of the Indiegogo community and fund raisers everywhere to help get us to the next stage. If you would rather help by making a PayPal donation then please feel free to use the facility on our website - Thank you!
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(Above) CAD illustration of the latest functional hydraulic prototype
What do the experts think?
"NHS Wales' research and development department supports the work being carried out at Ambionics, which has the potential to revolutionise the care of infants with upper limb differences.”
- Dr Nefyn Williams, Director of Innovation, BCUHB, NHS Wales
"It’s been inspiring to work on this innovative and ambitious project. It is amazing that, despite Ben having no background in product design, he’s taught himself enough to create something that will not only help his own son Sol, but potentially lots of others facing the same challenges too.”
- Paul Sohi, Product Designer, Autodesk
“This case is indicative of 3D printing’s ability to improve lives by overcoming the traditional barriers of low-volume manufacturing, We continue to support and enable innovators like Ben to bring customization to mainstream prosthetics manufacture"
- Scott Rader, General Manager, Healthcare Solutions, Stratasys.
"3D printing has been around for many years for rapid prototyping and is only recently creating waves in manufacturing across many key industrial sectors in the U.K. The potential for 3D printing in advancing healthcare technology is significant. The proposition and creative genius of Ambionics in using 3D printing and new materials to the benefit of prosthetics has the potential to revolutionise the lives of thousands of children (and adults) in the U.K. alone. I believe this product is a true game changer that creates a significant step change in the field of prosthetics."
- Dr Louise Jones, 3D printing/Additive manufacturing lead, Knowledge Transfer Network
What do the press think?
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ISRAELI NATIONAL NEWS
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.asp...
RTL NEXT
http://rtlnext.rtl.de/cms/nach-armamputation-va...
PHOTOXELS
http://www.photoxels.com/stratasys-3d-printing-...
ENGINEERING BY DESIGN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veibSnoLk4A&...
GOOD MORNING BRITAIN,ITV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6A0Xm7uPzE
MSN
http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peopleandplaces/...
