The team has applied for a patent for the Goldilocks Foot, which is now pending. And they have established a startup company, called Mediflex Prosthetics LLC, to attract venture funding that would allow them to further develop and eventually market their product.
When Colorado State University (CSU) engineering student Garrison Hayes was 6 years old, he underwent a transfemoral amputation due to pediatric osteosarcoma. After limb-salvage surgery, Hayes played soccer, then skied, cycled, and became a Paralympic athlete in the javelin throw. All the while, he found the prosthetic feet he used to be imperfect: Hayes has broken many of the devices through wear and tear, and he never walks—or even lounges around the house—without a shoe over his prosthetic foot for cushioning and flexibility.
So, when he became an engineering student, Hayes set out to create a better prosthetic foot. Last August, he teamed up with 4 other CSU undergraduates, all studying biomedical engineering. They invented a 3D-printed prosthetic foot fabricated from a type of nylon called polyamide. This material is applied layer by layer in a network of latticing. It costs less than other models of similar quality, may be customized for the needs of the wearer, is more comfortable, and because of its material and latticework design, returns energy to the body—putting a spring in the step of those who use it.
The students call their design the Goldilocks Foot because “this foot will fit just right,” explained Eric Gutierrez-Camacho, who serves as the team’s design engineer. He has printed prototypes of the Goldilocks Foot on his personal 3D printer; it takes 3 days to make each piece.
“It’s not just some rubber shell over an insert. This is actively supporting your leg and your body,” explained Hayes, who has tested each prototype his team has created. “When you apply pressure on it through gait cycles, the material wants to return to its shape, like a spring, and that supplies energy to assist you. It actively supports you and feels more natural.”
“With the Goldilocks Foot, we can reach infinite markets to address very specific problems with very specific solutions,” Gutierrez-Camacho said. “We can tailor each design to each person.”
