3D-Printing of Personalized Assistive Technology

Mouth sticks were invented to increase the independence of people with reduced or no hand/arm functionality. To enhance the usability and acceptance of these assistive devices, a process to create fully personalized mouth sticks has been developed. In order to enable the users to use the mouth stick for diverse applications like signing, drawing, using smart phones, tablets and computers, or even doing handcraft, the tips are chosen accordingly. The users can design their own mouth stick in an online web tool, then the fully personalized geometry of the mouth piece is 3D-printed with medical grade polymer, and the stick and tip are customized. As the use of regular computer accessories can be challenging for mouth stick users, this paper also elaborates on the example of a computer mouse, how these can be adapted to be more accessible for mouth stick users and how 3D-printers can help to quickly create, adapt and distribute assistive technology. Several mouse case designs for mouth stick users were developed, 3Dprinted and tested using a participatory design approach and comparing it to a morphological analysis approach.