Every year, about 2,000 children are born missing at least part of one leg, and every year, about 185,000 people lose part of their leg to unforeseen circumstances. These adults and children have historically missed out on many athletic activities, including swimming, because of their disability. While there are prosthetics available for running and walking, and others with a flipper for swimming, there does not exist one prosthetic that can function as both, making it cost-prohibitive for most people to buy the separate flipper prosthetic for swimming.
Shawn Jones, a Shapeways education grant recipient from Spring of 2016, has set out to fix this problem and give children born as congenital amputees, as well as those who have lost part of their leg later in life, the opportunity to walk, run, AND swim. Inspired by his own love of scuba diving and experience with amputees during his military service, he designed a prosthetic flipper-foot hybrid that can be fully submerged in water for diving and swimming, as well as function as a traditional prosthetic leg for land use without any modification.
Shawn learned how to scuba dive through a non-profit organization called Operation Blue Pride (OBP). Through OBP, Shawn teaches paraplegic, blind, and veterans with amputations how to scuba dive as a way to cope with both the physical and mental trauma of combat. Seeing how therapeutic scuba diving could be for these vets, yet also how difficult and expensive it was for them to learn, Shawn wanted to make scuba diving more physically and financially accessible for amputees all over the world.
Because Shawn is a designer by training and not an engineer, he had to teach himself 3D modeling in order to take his sketched 2D prosthetic designs to the next digital level. Nevertheless, Shawn was committed to his cause and quickly became an expert in 3D design.
In fact, Shawn has already created his second prototype and is moving quickly towards a finished and fully functional product, which he hopes to make available to the public soon. He plans to use his Shapeways grant to print this final design and launch his foundation on a scalable level. Soon, thanks to Shawn, children and veterans all over the world will be able to explore the underwater world– and come up for a walk in the sun after.
Are you an undergraduate or grad student pushing the boundaries of 3D-printing technology? You could receive up to $1000 in Shapeways credit to realize the designs of your dreams through the Shapeways Education Grant program. Learn more about the Shapeways Education Grant and apply at https://www.shapeways.com/education.
This is So Exciting! Thank you for sharing this story. As an Active 50+ person and a recent amputee I have been Shocked at the cost of Functional prosthetics for different activities And the Lack of caring and funds available from “Insurance??” companies!! There seems to be Very little Caring and help for amputees as far as getting the Necessary equipment to live a Healthy and Active life!! It is So Frustrating and Disheartening!! I’m Praying that there will be More people who See these Problems we face And Do Something About it!!
Hi Wendy,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I am very interested in finding people who are willing to help out with user testing. Especially if you have an interest in swimming and diving. If you would like to learn more please feel free to contact me at smvjones@gmail.com.
Cheers,
Shawn Jones
May I know which software Shawn learnt to control 3D printers, and which design programs? Thanks a lot.
Hi Titane,
Thanks for the comment. I started off using Meshmixer which is a free molding software. It did not give me enough features to create a larger model, so I then moved over to AutoCAD 123D and SolidWorks. AutoCAD 123D is free as well and works almost as good as SolidWorks. SolidWorks however does not work on a MAC unless you cross-platform your MAC. I hope this helps.