A Computer Assisted Methodologies to improve prosthesis development process

This paper refers to the implementation of a product development process based on the use of virtual model of the human body to design specific custom-fit products, such as a prosthesis socket. It considers the integration of ICT tools coming from reverse engineering and medical imaging for the acquisition of patient’s morphology and bony-muscular structure, virtual prototyping to model the limb and the socket, physics-based simulation to reproduce the interaction between the socket and stump and rapid prototyping tools for the product physical realization. Problems related to the implementation of each design step are described as well as results of the paradigm experimentation. The work has been developed within the framework of the DESPRO Project funded by Italian Research Ministry.