The Open Prosthetics Project /video link

Jonathan Kuniholm / Chuck Messer

During the summer of 2004 Tackle Design co-founder and principal Jonathan Kuniholm was called to serve in Iraq as a Platoon Commander in the Marines’ 4th Combat Engineer Battalion. Explosive ordnance, including landmines, unexploded bombs, and improvised explosive devices were reported as a daily reality for US forces in Iraq, and as the platoon prepared for deployment, the extent to which they would encounter and have to deal with these threats was unclear.

The military has specially trained Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams that are called on to investigate and disarm potential explosive threats, but because of the number of real incidents each day and the many false alarms, they are often spread thin. Before deployment, Jonathan and platoon member LCpl Howard Akers asked Tackle Design to help develop a device they could use to confirm or safely investigate potential threats in cases when EOD was unavailable. Many of the solutions used today involve tens of thousands of dollars of robotic hardware, significant amounts of training and some degree of risk to the soldiers in disarming the threat.

Tackle Design produced a solution to this problem by modifying an off-the-shelf Traxxas E-Maxx all terrain RC truck, adding a remote video camera, an aluminum deck, and a mechanism for remotely dropping an explosive charge to destroy suspected bombs. The parts and materials cost just over $1,100. The robot went to Iraq with Jonathan and his platoon, was used a few times in the field, and remains deployed with combat engineers there.

When we published this story on our website, the response was unexpectedly overwhelming. Defense contractors wanted to know how we did it and soldiers all over the world wanted to know where they could buy one. We weren’t in a position to turn it into a business, but elements of our design are gradually being adopted in commercial products. It was somewhat surprising to us that we were able to produce cheap and useful military hardware in our basement, but we soon realized that we were able to do this because our approach was radically different from that of the established military technology system.

On January 1st of 2005, Jonathan lost part of his right arm in an IED explosion, as the foot patrol he was with was ambushed (unfortunately, the robot would not have helped avoid the situation). During his recovery, he was able to make observations about prosthetic technology as both a user and a design engineer. The same gaps began to appear as we had observed in military robotics; there was a lack of cheap, customizable, and inventive prosthetic devices. The problem was that a mass production philosophy was being applied in a dynamic market where customization is very desirable.

We think that there is a way to solve problems like these with a new approach, and this time we are focused on making our solutions useful and available to the people who need them. It will take a rare blend of abilities, including not just design and manufacturing knowledge but also strong communication and project management skills. We already have some experience in all these areas, and we hope to further strengthen our team by collaborating with a diverse group of interested people and organizations.