Rapid Manufacturing · 13 March 06 by Jesse Crossen
We’ve been doing a lot of research into rapid manufacturing (RM) lately. It’s a way of building complex shapes from layers of material, and it will be how many things are made in the future. What’s most interesting about this technology for prosthetics is not the “rapid” part, it’s the fact that you can make things in very small quantities at a reasonable cost. In the prosthetics industry, this means that very small groups of users, like extreme skateboarders missing one foot, can have products made just for them at a reasonable cost. RM also makes it cheap to introduce new products, like we’re doing with the Trautman Hook. Through our consulting business, Tackle Design, we’re also exploring new applications of RM technology to prosthetics in response to a public announcement from the NIH.
