Think Like a Startup: Progressive Prosthetics
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APEX Insight: Facebook, Airbnb, Uber. These international companies, once startups, are transforming the way we travel. Airlines have taken note, fostering that entrepreneurial spirit in aviation. In this section of the multipart feature, we look at how All Nippon Airways gives travel-friendly prosthetics a leg up.
Wanting to develop a prosthetic leg for travel, JSR Corporation, a manufacturer of elastomers and fine chemicals, approached All Nippon Airways (ANA) in 2015. JSR was well-versed in producing plastics and synthetics, but knew little about how conventional prosthetics reacted to airport metal detectors.
The two companies swapped stories of people they knew who traveled with prosthetics and identified problem areas. The discussion brought up the fact that some airports require travelers to remove their prosthetic parts to be scanned or examined by hand, which can be uncomfortable and humiliating while waiting for a prosthetic limb to pass security. ANA offered insights into airport machines and procedures, conducted trials of the equipment at Haneda Airport and established an area for flyers to take off and put on their prosthetic parts.
With the help of SHC Design, the collaboration resulted in a lightweight 3-D-printed prosthetic leg made purely from soft and supple plastics developed by JSR – no metal parts were used.
“The next step for ANA is to identify the demand for 3-D prosthetic legs and provide proper support for passengers.” €” Nao Gunji, All Nippon Airways
“Since the 3-D-printed prosthetic legs are made of plastics, they won’t activate the metal detector at airports and are easier and more comfortable to wear for a long period of time,” says Nao Gunji, ANA’s PR and Communications coordinator. “What this means for passengers who travel with prosthetics is less physical, emotional and logistic stress.”
The manufacturing cost is at least one-fifth the price of a conventional prosthetic, and the product is expected to hit the market sometime this year. “The next step for ANA is to identify the demand for 3-D prosthetic legs and provide proper support for passengers,” Gunji says.
Aside from not setting off metal detectors and drawing unwanted attention, flyers traveling with prosthetics will soon be able to visit tropical locations where humid climates can corrode metal components: Trips to the seashore and a dip in a hot spring are possible, even with a prosthetic on, stated a press release from JSR, SHC and ANA.
“Think Like a Startup” was originally published in the 7.1 February/March issue of APEX Experience magazine.