Thank You for Your Amazing Support!
$40,000 raised in 24 hours!
Wow. You guys really, REALLY came through!
We are SO grateful to everyone who gave so generously. Thanks to you we have enough funds to complete medical trials of the “Magic Shoes”, upgrade one Sydney clinic and release the open-source blueprints to kids all around the world.
Now thanks to your support we are releasing two new Stretch Goals:
NEW $60,000 STRETCH GOAL:
- 10 more kids on long-wait times get a pair of 3D Printed “Magic Shoes”
- Includes all Orthotist consultation and assessment fees, scanning, manufacturing & lab testing of the Magic Shoes.
NEW $80,000 STRETCH GOAL:
- A Second Clinic in Sydney upgraded to use the new Digital Service and provide 3D Printed Orthoses to Children. Includes equipping the clinic with a state-of-the-art 3D scanner, training & support.
Campaign Introduction
The aim of our campaign is to help children with disabilities walk. Currently, excessive wait times and the cost of Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFOs), make them inaccessible to millions of children with disabilities worldwide. We are pioneering the development and optimisation of state-of-the-art 3D scanning & printing technology to create “Magic Shoes”. This is a revolutionary way of looking at this issue and it has the potential and capacity to change the lives of millions of children worldwide.
With the funds we will do 3 things:
1. Conduct material testing & user trials of 3D Printed AFOs for children with disabilities
2. Get 3D printed AFOs medically approved and start making them available to Australian children
3. Share our information with the world! By open-sourcing our research, designs and manufacturing processes
With your help we will reach millions of people with disabilities globally!
Why are we running this campaign?
Most people with disabilities need a number of assistive devices every day. These are tools or products that help people perform activities like getting around, seeing or communicating. Without them people may be excluded, isolated and locked into poverty, thereby increasing negative impacts on their life, their family and on society.
• The World Health Organisation estimates there are one Billion people with disabilities worldwide. Due to factors like high costs and lack of skilled personnel only one tenth get the assistive devices they need! [Source - WHO Report]
• For example: The demand for Orthoses for children with physical disabilities is exponentially outstripping supply. Globally there are 100 million people who need Orthoses but currently only 1 in 10 get the devices they need. [Source - ISPO Report]
• Due to a global shortage of trained personnel and the way in which Orthoses are currently made, wait times are very long and they cost a lot of money. [Source - AOPA Report
• There are people in the developing world that don’t have access to these critically important devices at all!
Project Partners:
We are proud to be collaborating with some of the best and most relevant organisations in the country including:
AbilityMate Supporters:
We truly appreciate the support of these organisations, we could not have made it this far without them:
About the Project - What Do We Need Funding For?
AbilityMate is building on the work of leading Orthotics clinics by utilising a completely digital approach to creating AFOs. We’ve been working with Orthotists, 3D scanning experts, engineers and families of children with Cerebral Palsy to create a human centred way of designing and making AFOs. We use a 3D scanner that takes a digital mould of a leg in seconds, then we model it to medical requirements and 3D print the Orthoses. We have already seen promising results and now we are taking this project to the next level. This crowdfunding campaign will help us take the next steps to medically validate 3D printed AFOs.
Project Outcomes
• Develop an affordable and effective 3D scanning process to replace current plaster casting methods
• Train personnel on how to use 3D scanning equipment to capture a digital mould of a child's ankle and foot
• Train a team of computer aided designers to model AFOs precisely to an Orthotist's prescription/requirements
• 3D print custom AFOs in various materials
• Conduct lab testing on various 3D printing materials and processes
• 3D print just in time and perfectly fitted AFOs that have been optimised to clinical and lifestyle needs
• Share our findings on a web portal with videos, instructions, templates +more
• Work with a legal team to develop an open-source license, which will safely and ethically encourage peer production and innovation
By Fulfilling These Outcomes We Aim To:
• Improve the experience of obtaining Orthoses for children, families and Allied Health Professionals
• Increase the productivity of Orthotists by 400-600%, thereby freeing them up to help more kids faster, and reducing wait-times
• Shorten current production times of up to 4 weeks to 48 hours by using medically approved 3D printing technologies
• Reduce the number of children who are exposed to secondary complications from wearing Orthoses that have been made too big or too small
• Incentivise children to wear and be proud of their AFOs by personalising the design. For example printing a superhero character or anything else they would like on their AFO’s.
Why Should You Support AbilityMate?
We believe that every person should have access to the assistive devices they need. Which is why our business creates open-source blueprints for the most-needed assistive devices. These designs are made available to the disability community, and can be manufactured by local 3D Printing hubs anywhere in the world, using our online local production platform (in development).
Our team consists of motivated and purpose-driven entrepreneurs, engineers and designers who have lived experience of a disability or a deep understanding of the inequalities faced by people with disabilities.
Over the last 18 months we have built a movement and are tremendously proud of our traction, including:
- Organising 5 Make-athon events in 2015 whereby 20+ people with disabilities co-created life changing assistive devices with our team of designers and engineers
- Winning of Grand Prize plus People’s Choice at the National Disability Insurance Scheme’s New World Pitch competition October 2015
- Completing 16-week Disability-focused accelerator program (Remarkable) run by Cerebral Palsy Alliance and supported by the NSW Government and Telstra Foundation
- Building a team of 8 purpose-driven high calibre people
- Gaining support from ING Direct by featuring us on their Android Pay campaign (donating $50k), and being chosen to run this crowdfunding campaign with ING Dreamstarter
- Receiving $150K software grant from Autodesk Impact program
- Receiving frequent media-friendly coverage in The Age (Print), Sydney Morning Herald, Start Up Daily and CCTV, Autodesk Academy
