Design and manufacturing of prosthetic feet for children as a multidisciplinary project for mechanical engineering students

Abstract

This paper presents the development of a prosthetic foot designed by engineering-school students. A complete workflow from needs definition to the production and testing was performed. The standards for adults were adapted to children, then a pre-design was performed, and a numerical model was realised to perform numerical testing. The production was carried out through additive manufacturing and the printed prosthetics were tested in flexion, and then in a motion analysis room. This project was aimed at making students put into practice their ability to design and test a mechanical product in a biomechanics context. Their learning outcomes were assessed during their oral presentations, their written reports and the testing session. Students gave positive feedback at the end of the semester about their feeling of the project.