A Dentist's Encounter with Lego - An Invention Story!

He has also built a bright orange Fire dragon from the same lego technic elements that could walk, flap its wings and turn its head from side to side and lift its neck and bend down to simulate flight. Probably inspired by The Game of Thrones? These builds of living objects helped him learn joints and how walking and movements could be replicated using lego elements.

A Functional Prosthetic Hand built from Legos

What Dr Vishnu considers his greatest achievement, is his next build, an ongoing project where he created a Lego prototype, based on a mechanism done by David Aguilar from Spain. David is a mechanical engineer who had designed a robotic arm purely with lego that looked like a cyborg arm. As a prosthodontist who cares for the esthetics as much as the function, he wanted to build a prosthetic arm that looks real yet is capable of basic functions, namely the ability to grasp an object and lift it and hold.

Dr Vishnu explains, “The life of an amputee who loses a hand sometimes creates a trauma that debilitates people. There are a variety of prosthetic, robotic, bionic hands available which are very expensive and not easily available. Legos could be clearly considered an alternative to 3D printed components for building something that needs to be functional and not just a solid prosthesis.”

As dentists we look for both form and function in any replacement we do. When we have the power to recreate, why not try making it mimic nature as much as possible? From his understanding, Dr Vishnu states that a simple opening and closing mechanism with elastics and strings could be easily incorporated in a design with components processed in heat cured acrylic, that could be easily flasked and cured in a dental flask, and adding a few straps, and a cover, a prosthetic hand could be made.

Dr. Vishnu Manohar is creating a bionic hand without any electronics, costly sensors based on simple strings and elastics with lego components built to scale mimicking a human hand.

He says "as the prototype is ready, we are planning to fabricate the next working model in a 3D printed design and make those parts later in the acrylic material used for dentures, to make easily affordable prosthetic arms which not only look like a hand, but can actually function to grasp objects and improve the quality of life of amputees. It could even be characterized or coated with silicone to make it more natural, yet be able to grasp and lift an object. The basic Lego design has taught me a lot about designing the hand".

This design is published patent with the Govt. of India as a partially functioning prosthetic mechanical hand (Appl no. 202041057359). With the right funding for development of the design, and with time, he foresees that in the future, he could provide prosthetic hands that can open and close fingers without electronics, almost at the cost of getting a set of complete dentures in India. He points out that, he got only around ten Lego sets and he could build so many different new models with the same inventory he had.

Building is a basic human instinct. It develops dexterity, fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, puzzle solving ability, time management, patience, persistence and perseverance; the ability to plan a build and make it real, really gives them a hands on experience on how to take on projects and see it through to completion. He hopes to inspire many individuals to take up creative building, not just with lego but also with other model building kits available and DIY designs like 3D pens, wax creations, Meccano sets, tetrix, and so many other great building element platforms. Dr Vishnu wants to create a legacy of designs and inspire Indians to do the same. His story is meant to call young aspiring minds to start building!

Dr Vishnu Manohar is prosthodontist and a private practitioner in Dindigul, Tamilnadu, India.

Dr. Ramya Kumari is a periodontist and private practitioner in Dindigul, Tamilnadu, India.

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