Anthony Braekevelt & Matthew Medzegian
2011 Senior Capstone Design Project
UW Department of Mechanical Engineering


TITLE:

"Design of a Cost-Effective Prosthetic Foot"


ABSTRACT:

The motivation behind this project stemmed from the outreach efforts of the Seattle-based
Prosthetic Outreach Foundation (POF) in the western African country of Sierra Leone. An
eleven year civil war left millions of refugees and thousands with lost limbs due to insurgent
brutality. The POF created an infrastructure in Sierra Leone that allows the local citizens to
provide prosthetic and orthotic services to their people.  Through collaboration at the
University of Washington and the Applied Biomechanics Laboratory, several students
designed and manufactured a prosthetic foot for these war victims. The human gait cycle
has been considered to have an overall motion analogous to a rolling wheel as the center of
pressure (COP) exerted against the ground progresses forward from heel strike to toe off.
These studies led to our development of an "effective rocker shape" for a roll-over type foot.
Our presentation "Design of a Cost-Effective Prosthetic Foot" covers our design and
manufacturing processes that resulted in our final prototype.