Testing Rig Project with Westmead Children's Hospital

Project Member(s): Behrens, M., Harvard, H.

Funding or Partner Organisation: The Children's Hospital at Westmead (The Children's Hospital Westmead)
The Children's Hospital at Westmead (The Children's Hospital Westmead)

Start year: 2022

Summary: The EPIC Lab at the Westmead Children’s Hospital is a leading lab in the improvement of the bone health of children, and seeks to assist children with physical disability through the creation of assistive devices. The Epic Lab have a specialisation around the development of 3D printed Ankle-Foot Orthoses (AFOs) – an area that UTS Rapido Social has undertaken high-impact work in with Sydney-based start-up, Ability Made. Since August 2020, UTS Rapido Social and the EPIC lab have been discussing the co-development of an AFO testing rig, that will allow Westmead Children’s hospital to validate and test the mechanical properties of their 3D printed AFOs for children with physical disability (and in particular, Cerebral Palsy). The development of this rig will make the technology around 3D printed AFOs accessible for the children that the Westmead Children’s Hospital supports. UTS Rapido Social and the Research Portfolio have devided to deliver this project in a low-bono fashion (only requesting some cost-recovery on the project), in order to meet Westmead's limited capacity to pay for the project.

FOR Codes: Medical instruments, Mechatronics hardware design and architecture

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.