3D printing technology can manufacture products in a new ways but for one woman, the technology helped her do something she had been unable to do for more than 20 years – walk.
And technology developed in the Research Triangle played a key role.
Amanda Boxtel was left paralyzed from the waist down after a fall while skiing in Aspen, Colo. Doctors told her she would never walk again. But Boxtel found herself walking through Budapest last fall using a exoskeleton customized to her body developed by Rock Hill, S.C.-based 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) and Ekso Bionics (OTC:EKSO), a California company.
In developing the exoskelton, 3DS used technology from Geomagic, a Morrisville company that specializes in 3D software. 3DS acquired Geomagic last year.
“Our Geomagic products play a vital role in this process, since only it can transform the rough scan data into accurate, fluid, usable surfaces that can drive the design of the interstitial body components,” 3DS spokeswoman Alyssa Reichental said.
Boxtel walked with the help of the exoskeleton at the Singularity University Summit last November in Budapest, Hungary. 3DS and Ekso have been working together on the exoskeleton for more than a year, Reichental said. To make the exoskelton fit Boxtel, designers used used 3D scanning to digitize the contours of Amanda’s thighs, shins and spine to create a personalized three-dimensional base to inform the shape of the required assemblies.
Ekso manufactured sophisticated mechanical actuators and controls, which were then integrated with the more fluid components that were 3D printed from the customized scans. Boxtel’s steps were a test for the exoskeleton.
“After years of dreaming about it, I am deeply grateful and thrilled to be making history by walking tall in the first ever 3D printed Ekso-Suit, made specifically for me,” Boxtel said in a press announcement about the achievement. ”This project represents the triumph of human creativity and technology that converged to restore my authentic functionality in a stunningly beautiful, fashionable and organic design.”
Reichental said it’s too early to say what more will develop from the project, which is still in the proof of concept stage. But Boxtel expressed joy at the technology’s ability to help her walk again.
“This project represents the triumph of human creativity and technology that converged to restore my authentic functionality in a stunningly beautiful, fashionable and organic design,” she said in a statement.
