Cody O'Cain

MakerSpace Ninja

Phone: (504) 756-9173

Major: Biomedical Engineering

Profile

Bio

I'm a Senior in Biomedical Engineering who is passionate about product development, finite element analysis, and Biomechanics. The MakerSpace has been a great place for myself, and I encourage anyone reading this to come by and explore! Working in a space open to all students produces ideas that would be impossible in major specific group, and this open environment has allowed me to learn many new, interesting skills. My personal focus is translating MRI / CT files into patient specific mesh files to be used for finite element study, and also 3D printing. I also look for new methods and tricks that can be used to create a broader range of designs with greater complexity from the laser cutters, 3D printer, and PCNC mill.

Projects

Replicating Human Hand Motion

This project is a personal one of mine that I'm really passionate about. I find prosthetics to be a fascinating field, and it also plays into my interest in patient specific treatment. The idea behind the project is pretty simply, I used reference book and experience from the Cadaver Lab here at Tulane to tried and recreate the motion of the human hand. I tried an initial prototype which succeed in some respects, but failed in others. At the same time, I experiment with elastomers to try and replicate the range of motion and stability ligaments offer in vivo. This gave some surprisingly good results in terms of range of motion, but the plastic-elastomer contact required a large amount of force to overcome. In-vivo synovial fluid cuts the friction between bone and ligament, and to replicate such a system will likely need a similar type of lubrication. In regards to the renderings of the second prototype seen below I started looking at patient specific geometry. I first obtained a 3D scan of a my hand, and then smoothed out the mesh before transforming it into an editable mesh body in CAD. The idea behind this would be to have someone who needs a prosthetic to first scan their hand so that one can be produced that is spatially appropriate for their body. Currently I am attempting to make the model parameter run so that different scan can be imported and processed into assemblies that are capable of articulating properly.