on Sep 23rd, 2006Open Source Prosthetic Fishing Arm
Open source development of ideas for the good of humanity has taken root in the internet age. The act of collaborating on projects, allowing anyone in the world to participate based on their knowledge and expertise, has the potential to produce a substantial trove of intellectual property that resides in the public domain.
One such open source movement is Open Prosthetics. Their goal: development of prosthetics that benefit humanity rather than a corporation whose sole motivation is profit. The greater good of humanity outweighs the short-term profit motive. We concur.
Robert Haag has started another interesting project for his son Michael: a prosthetic fishing rod. The idea is to attach the rod as a terminal device on Michael’s prosthetic arm in place of the usual gripper. Pretty much anything can be made into a body-powered terminal device by attaching 1/2-20 male threads to it, although it’s a little harder to make it do something when you pull the cable.