A Nova Scotia woman involved in a terrible car accident has done something few could imagine years ago: designing a replacement limb.
Art student Natasha Hope-Simpson lost a leg in a hit-and-run accident in November 2013. Like many amputees, she was issued a standard prosthetic leg, but she found the functional prosthetic unattractive. She says:
I do wish for a more feminine looking leg because there are a lot of aspects in the mechanics of a prosthetic that don’t speak the language of femininity.
An encounter with Thinking Robot Studios enabled her to design a new prosthetic based on her own shape. The service first scanned her surviving leg and mirrored the result to produce an accurate model of the missing limb. 3D printed panels were produced to create an artificial limb that matched her original shape precisely.
But as an artist, Hope-Simpson saw this as an opportunity to exert her strengths. She’s now able to create new designs to 3D print in the same body shape to fit her prosthetic.
Now she can redesign herself, any time she likes.
Via CBC