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STUDY
HELPING VISUALLY IMPAIRED AND
BLIND PEOPLE TO BETTER PERCEIVE
THEIR ENVIRONMENT
CUSTOMER'S GOAL:
Create a lumbar belt to improve proprioception for visually impaired and blind people.
CHALLENGE
Improve resolution and rendering to convey information more accurately.
Optimize the product with a morecomfortable and discreet design and material.
Easily develop different iterations, and produce quickly.
MAIN INFORMATION:
Company
ARTHA
Technology
Multi Jet Fusion (MJF)
Industry
Personal aid / Medical
Finishing Options
None
Product
Sensory lumbar belt
Material
Ultrasint® TPU 01
About the Company:
Artha France was founded in 2018 in the Paris region. Artha’s proposition is to offer greater autonomy to the visually impaired and blind, thanks to a device that enables them to develop a completely new perception of their environment.
Concept Presentation
About the Project:
In the device designed by Artha, a mini-camera, mounted on glasses, films the person’s immediate environment. The information captured by the camera is transmitted, in real time, to a lumbar belt device worn by the person. This lumbar belt acts as a kind of mechanical screen on the wearer’s back, transmitting the information captured by the camera in the form of small pressures. In this way, the wearer can intuitively decode stimuli corresponding to his or her immediate environment through touch.
Concept Presentation:
Like sight, touch is one of the senses that enables the human body to situate itself in space. It is also one of the quickest for the brain to interpret.
That’s why Artha has chosen to use the sense of touch in order to communicate to the wearer information that would usually be transmitted by sight.
Thanks to this device, people can sense their immediate surroundings, and any obstacles or objects they encounter, and move accordingly. This device also enables wearers to perform actions previously unthinkable for a visually impaired person, such as playing video games.
Questions:
What has your experience been working with Sculpteo?
I am blown away by the quality and speed of Sculpteo’s 3D printing service. The online quote system was so convenient, and I received my custom parts in no time. The knowledge of Sculpteo’s engineers really helped us perfect our project. This service truly exceeded my expectations!
What was the problem you wanted to solve when you turned to 3D printing?
For this project, our aim was to manufacture a flexible lumbar belt, enabling us to integrate all the electronic parts needed for our mechanical display device, such as batteries.
Initially, Artha’s lumbar belt was designed in several parts, with hinges that were 3D printed using a Fused Deposition Modeling printer. 120 hinges were printed and clipped together, which meant long assembly and production times. Because of this particular design, the belt had a limited lifespan, due to the various rubs and twists of the parts, sometimes causing discomfort to our users. By changing the design of these clip-on hinges to a single printed part, and choosing a material that was more comfortable to wear, we were able to improve our design, and make it more durable. Thanks to the help of Sculpteo Studio’s designers and engineers, we were able to get assistance with the design of our TPU model, and speed up the time it took to produce it. Once the model was ready for production, the speed of manufacture was equally as impressive.
What were the advantages of using 3D printing for your project?
The use of 3D printing enabled us to carry out different iterations quickly, and thus to shorten our development times.
What technologies and materials did you use for your project and why?
Par besoin de flexibilité, nous avons utilisé du MJF Ultrasint® TPU 01. Grâce à sa souplesse, cette matière permet à la ceinture de s’adapter au dos de l’utilisateur. For versatility, we used MJF Ultrasint® TPU 01. Thanks to its flexibility, this material allows the belt to adapt to the user’s back.
The part was printed in one go, for greater robustness than a rigid articulated part made up of many small parts.
How has 3D printing concretely improved this project?
Our first models were produced using Fused Deposition Modeling.
By reworking our project with Sculpteo, we were able to switch to Multi Jet Fusion technology, which greatly improved the resolution of our parts, and therefore the quality of the information transcribed onto the user’s back.
Which Sculpteo services have you used?
Rémi du Chalard
CEO of Artha
We used Sculpteo’s printing service, as well as the Studio’s design services.
“The online quote system was so convenient, and I received my custom parts in no time.”
They trust us
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