Innovative, customized solutions for the disabled

Dear difteurs,

Two weeks after our participation in the Cybathlon, we're still on cloud nine! 🌥️ This techno-sports event, the largest in the world dedicated to assistive devices for people with disabilities, was an incredible experience. 🤩

The Cybathlon brings together players (companies, universities, research institutes...) from all over the world to test their innovations for the handicap, through various courses. The event is a showcase for putting assistive technologies to work in real-life situations.

The Bionicohand, our open source bionic hand, completed 90% of the daily tasks in the prosthetic arm race and with the best time (6:08) 🦾 In the final, the Bionicohand took the silver medal 🥈

The result marks an important milestone in our mission to make the technical aids more accessible and accepted by amputees. Here's what made this success possible:

1) Users at the center of the R&D process to validate each step

2) Technological projects developed through collective intelligence and solidarity

3) Sharing in open source hardware

To see the results and videos 👉 https://cybathlon.ethz.ch/en/events/results?event=5267&discipline=49

As part of our partnership with Pôle Saint-Hélier, a rehabilitation center in Rennes, Christophe came to the Humanlab with his occupational therapist.
His need: contactors triggered by a movement of the head to control, on the one hand the on/off function of his wheelchair's joystick, and on the other hand the wheelchair's speed incrementally (each click increases speed by 1 and then returns to 0). The commercially available switch he was using was expensive and fragile, and the support arm used to attach it to the wheelchair was extremely large. So he was looking for a lighter, less expensive alternative!
After several meetings and the testing of a first prototype, Christophe left with the final version of his head contactors!

This year we've set up a digital workshop with students and teachers from the ULIS (Unité localisée pour l'inclusion scolaire) section at Collège Des Fontaines in La Guerche de Bretagne.
One of the projects carried out within this framework is the sensory tent: a place in which students can come to isolate themselves if they have difficulty concentrating in order to recharge their batteries thanks to sounds 🎶 they have chosen and soothing light atmospheres 🌈
This project experienced a high point on the occasion of the Fabrikarium 2024, a hackathon during which students came to present their specifications to the prototype makers gathered for 3 days in our manufacturing workshop. The prototype was then finalized with the students, their teacher and volunteers from our association. The tent is now up and running at the school! Discover it on video!

Thanks to the Captains, Jimmy is supported by My Human Kit for his project: the JimStick 🕹️

This is a giant mouse adapted to Jimmy's motor skills so he can navigate his smartphone.

This mouse consists of a laser-cut housing, large buttons spaced well apart, a microcontroller, and a joystick. The whole thing is connected to his phone, which is attached to a 3D-printed model stand.

After running tests with Jimmy, the phone stand still needs to be modified for easier installation and a better fit. Jimmy is also looking for a solution to be able to put his phone on standby and bring it out of standby without using the buttons on his phone.

A new version of the prototype is currently under development...

The project documentation is available here.

Today we introduce you to Sarah and her DistriGouttes project!

🤔 The need? A dispenser for eye drops when you have difficulty lifting your arms and little strength to press the bottle.

🛠️ The prototype: Two PVC tubes, a bicycle brake and a 3D-printed bottle holder!

✅ Test: Sarah has validated the 1st prototype for use with saline.

👐 Next steps: Model and 3D print other supports for other types of bottle. Sarah would also like to be able to slide the foot of the DistriGouttes to best adjust its position on her bust.

To be continued...

Documentation in progress here 👉 https://wikilab.myhumankit.org/index.php?title=Projects:DistriGouttes
Thanks to all the Captains!

In Rennes, My Human Kit organized the Fabrikarium 2024 for 3 days. Guided by a disabled person who is an expert in his or her needs, and mixing creativity, digital fabrication and collective intelligence, 3 teams imagined and built several different solutions.

On the program: citizenship, reuse and learning for all, but also sharing and encounters!

 🧒 KIT EDUC: the team worked on 3 different sub-projects:

 ⛺ A sensory tent so that middle-schoolers in a school inclusion section who may have difficulty concentrating can refocus before returning to class for their lessons. The students chose sounds coming out of a loudspeaker and shades of light for the led garland installed on the tent's ceiling. The whole system is triggered by buttons whose evocative visuals were also chosen by the students (flame, fish, book...). Now it's time to assemble the tent. The tent will soon be installed on the college's premises.

🖌️ ✏️ A brush guide for Aboudou and a pencil guide for Dorian, who have limited fine motor skills, were modeled and then 3D printed to best suit their prehension abilities. They left with their prototypes.

 💬 A tablet holder for Antoine, who only communicates with it thanks to his one functional hand, was imagined. He'll be able to hold it against him when he's standing, use it when he passes someone he wants to talk to, and slide it behind his back when he's no longer using it. The prototype still needs to be finalized before it can be tested by Antoine.

 🫙 DISTRI VRAC: 2 different prototypes were made to meet Solène's need for a dry food dispenser, usable with just one hand, and made from recycled materials. They were then sent back to Solène's home to be tested in real-life conditions.

 🗳️ JEU VOTE: A board game designed for people with various disorders (cognitive, motor, etc.) was created to help them understand the issues at stake in the municipal elections, so that they can exercise their right to vote in an informed manner. The game was tested and validated by 3 residents of a Maison d'accueil spécialisée during the 3 days. There are still a few cuts to be made before it can be shown to other residents!
Thanks again for your support!
To see the video: https://youtube.com/shorts/53JPAI5gg2Y?si=lI0S-S7T1L_4sppy

Just a few days before we enter winter, we present Séverine's project, which will bring a little sunshine into your day ☀️

Séverine is equipped with an electric leg prosthesis on a daily basis, with a flowery cover (aesthetic dressing for the prosthesis) that she loves! But this cover is not compatible with her mechanical prosthesis, which she uses to be able to go to the beach with her family during the vacations.

So she turned to My Human Kit to make a low-cost 3D-printed cover that's water-resistant but can also be easily re-printed should it be damaged by sun, sand, sea salt... all in a Japanese style with Koi carp and cherry blossoms 🌸

Thanks to your support, here's the result! Thank you!

Remember Jérôme? He's the man behind the Notaboo project: nomadic Japanese toilets (or bidets) adapted to help people with limited fine motor skills maintain their independence when using the toilet away from home.

After spending 3 days in Japan last spring to make progress on his project and benefit from the experience of our Japanese counterparts in the field, the prototype was finalized during a bootcamp organized with INSA Rennes (engineering school) last July. If you'd like to find out more about his adventure in Japan, Jérôme has just published a logbook on his website.

Since then, Jérôme has been able to test the latest prototype, which features a foot pedal control sent from Japan by Takayuki, whom he met at Fabrikarium Tokyo. You can find the tests of Jérôme's latest prototype here.

His feedback is positive, and he validates this version! Even if there are still areas for improvement for a future version: increasing the duration of the jet, finding another container for the water to have a better one-handed grip, succeeding in printing a watertight nozzle (resin to be tested) as this is a difficult component to find in spare parts.

Thank you for your support! Thanks to you, Jérôme was able to visit his brother in Montreal on his own!

Last June, My Human Kit took part in the first Fabrikarium at Humanlab Saint-Pierre (near Montpellier), a member of the Humanlabs network run by My Human Kit.

The Fabrikarium is a collaborative rapid prototyping event aimed at accelerating the development of innovative solutions to disability. For 3 days, 4 teams took up the challenge of designing and manufacturing 4 functional prototypes to meet the needs expressed by children and adults with disabilities!

One of the teams was dedicated to Lilwen's Stimul'loud project, initiated earlier this year at My Human Kit's Humanlab in Rennes. Lilwen is a young girl suffering from a neurological pathology that prevents her from communicating with her parents. The aim of this project is to stimulate Lilwen's cognitive development by associating sounds, objects and actions with each other. To achieve this, the team used Makey Makey (an educational electronic kit) to create a modular test bench to aid communication. Lilwen and her parents left with a prototype to test at home over several weeks. To be continued...

Last month, My Human Kit co-organized, with the FabLab Shinagawa, the Fabrikarium Tokyo: the first Franco-Japanese makeathon dedicated to disabilities, digital fabrication and the commons. The 70 participants were divided into 6 teams, one of which was that of Jérôme, the bearer of the French project Notaboo: a nomadic Japanese toilet (or bidet) adapted to maintain autonomy when traveling outside the home when suffering from fine motor impairment.

This project initiated by Jérôme over 10 years ago, and supported by My Human Kit for the past 1 year, had already been the subject in 2022 of a first do it yourself prototype documented in open source on our wikilab site.

During the 3-day event, Jérôme was able to talk to everyday users of Japanese toilets and work on improvements to his prototype: printing a toilet seat holder that can be adapted to a wide range of models, modeling a nozzle (from which the water jet emerges), creating a solution for adjusting the nozzle's inclination and setting up a remote release adapted to his motor skills. As an added bonus, Jérôme was able to present his prototype to the Japan Toilet Association, which is very interested in following its progress!

Thanks to the support of the Captains, My Human Kit continues to accompany Jérôme and his Notaboo project. The goal: a second, finalized version very soon! Thank you for your support!

Simon and his 10-year-old daughter Lilwen came through the doors of Humanlab a few weeks ago with a project in mind: to create an interface to encourage Lilwen's interactions with her surroundings.
Lilwen uses very little speech to communicate and has few fine motor skills. Called "Stimu'loud", the aim of the project is to stimulate her with buttons and/or joysticks to create sound or visual interactions when she triggers them independently. A first phase is currently underway to find the right locations in front of her on her chair's tablet, and also to determine what stimulates her the most, with an essentially playful approach. A second phase will be to develop an adapted interface that will enable her to develop communication with those around her.

Thanks to donations from the Captains, our fabmanager Delphine and one of our volunteers, Suliane, are accompanying Simon, a DIY dad, on this project. Next step: participation in June in a prototyping event organized in Palavas-les-Flots (34) by one of My Human Kit's partners, the Humanlab Saint-Pierre, specialized in pediatric projects.
Thank you for your support!