Travis, Rowland Paul; (1991) A second generation computer aided design system for prosthetics and orthotics. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D.), University College London.

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Abstract

This thesis begins with an introduction to Computer Aided Design (CAD) and its common uses, particularly in engineering and bioengineering. A computer based system is documented which was developed at UCL to design above-knee prosthetic sockets. The first objective in the system's development was to provide an automated facility capable of taking surface measurements of a residual limb and manipulating these data to produce a socket shape using conventional design philosophy. The UCL system is regarded as a First Generation system in that it is restricted in its possible applications and it has no mathematical understanding of the surface it designs, thereby making large scale manipulations of the surface cumbersome and difficult to quantify. This thesis seeks to develop a Second Generation system, generally applicable in prosthetics and orthotics, including a complete description of the surface designed and enabling straight-forward manipulation of the surface. Applications of a CAD system in prosthetics and orthotics involve modelling an existing shape, and so a review of data capture techniques and a developed software tool for examination of the data captured are presented. After a review of surface modelling techniques which fails to yield a suitable method, a surface model for general application is developed together with a method for reducing the data captured to the information necessary for the model. The ability of the model to represent an existing shape is demonstrated with appropriate examples. The developed data examination tool, surface model, data reduction method and three-dimensional graphics software form the Second Generation system. Manipulation of an original shape according to known rules is a procedure frequently followed in prosthetics and orthotics, and since a CAD system is often used to mimic a conventional design philosophy, the Second Generation system has been developed with the ease of manipulation paramount. The suitability of the system for manipulation is demonstrated by application to an orthotic project where the rules have been quantified in terms appropriate to the system.

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