Shreya Patki, a 4th-year mechanical engineering student, combines art, biomechanical design, and 3D printing to produce a hand brace that is affordable, comfortable, and easily resizable. Her product addresses the design flaws of current hand braces on the market, namely those that are custom and costly, as well as those that are bulky and generically labelled as ‘’one size fits all’’. This wearable device enhances mobility efficiency, improving one’s fine motor control and offering structural support to individuals with arthritis or hEDS (Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome).
In her first year, Shreya began her research career through an internship award with engineering professor Dr. Jill Urbanic and continued her work through the Outstanding Scholars Program in her second year. Shreya worked closely with Dr. Urbanic to develop her brace design and explore its manufacturability. She started by familiarizing herself with Rhino 6, a 3D modeling CAD software, and, Grasshopper, a visual programming environment available to Rhino 6. Shreya soon began to conceptualize designs for her hand brace by sketching ideas on top of pictures of her own hands. “The biggest challenge for me was getting started. Once the ball was rolling though, it didn’t feel as hard to keep going”, explains Shreya. With Grasshopper, Shreya used ellipses to create a parametric model that realistically depicted finger length and diameter. This model used anthropomorphic ratios, making it possible for one to input their hand measurements and have the model resize to match their fingers. Grasshopper was also used to generate a brace model with resizable components, just like her hand model. By connecting the two, one can change the measurements on the hand model and receive the corresponding brace 3D model, which can then be 3D printed.
Shreya’s design includes many unique features. For the finger support, a segmented, pill bug-like structure was implemented. This allows one to move their fingers more freely, yet it prevents the fingers from bending back past the knuckle. This will allow for better support in motions such as pushing small pieces on an assembly line. A piece of spring steel guided through each segment on the brace supports each phalange during movement and gives resistance to the hand movement, thus helping the user with actions that require fine motor control, like opening a jar. A rubber fastening mechanism (3D printable using TPU filament) has also been designed to comfortably fasten the brace to each of the user’s fingers. The palm piece, which joins all finger segments to create one unit, features a fun pattern that is easily changeable depending on the user’s preference. “I really wanted to combine art and engineering in this project. I did this by adding a pretty pattern to the functional palm piece, which made the hand brace much more personal, and shows users it’s boundless customizability”.
Through her work in Outstanding scholars, Shreya wrote an academic paper alongside Dr. Urbanic titled “Development of a Dynamic, Reconfigurable Finger-Hand Skeletal Structure”, an accomplishment uncommon among undergrad students. In February of 2019, Shreya entered the Canada Makes 3D printing design competition and in May of the same year, she got news of her exceptional win. Competing against college and university level (undergraduate and graduate) students from all across Canada, Shreya’s innovative hand brace was at the top of all its competitors. She is thankful for the opportunity to work with Dr. Urbanic, who encouraged her to pursue research as a female engineering student and pushed Shreya to show off her work. “It was empowering to work alongside someone who is so knowledgeable on additive manufacturing and student research”. Currently, Shreya is working hard on completing her studies and is finalizing her hand brace design to begin user testing. As she finishes her fourth year of mechanical engineering, she plans to continue exploring additive manufacturing and 3D design and hopes to work in the biomechanical field in the near future.