[Music]
[Applause]
hello I’d like to talk to you about how
we make these prosthetic legs that is
length for people who don’t have a part
of their body that cost just a few
dollars that is lightweight flexible
that people did not just walk and work
with but they can also run play and
dance so much so that even when we went
to international competitions and
competed with prosthetic legs that cost
$70,000 and $100,000 that we held our
own and with almost having no budget or
no money to call a budget we were able
to be covered by BBC CNN History Channel
a video of our squat over 12 to 13
million views all this without a PR
campaign or communications team now I as
a mechanical engineer studied how
animals and robots walk and run very
simply put the leg is functionally or
mathematically a spring whether you’re
an elephant or an ant or whether you
have hundreds of leg like a centipede or
two legs like human the leg is
essentially a spring now it turns out
that even you have the skin furniture
that’s bent in all these beautiful
shapes that you can fit in now if it’s
bent and you can sit and can take your
weight essentially that’s a spring in
itself so now if if the Keen is a spring
and the human leg is a spring it was the
cutest B’s question as to whether I
could make a leg or of King so now not
having worked with King before I went
and spoke to a couple of local artisans
to see whether we could been keen about
the shape where they could take the
weight and they were like yeah it quite
can do the job so now
to better understand this to rapid
prototyping just to get my hands dirty I
essentially bunched together a couple of
sticks of Keeney and then put on a
parapet at somebody stand on one end and
I just step on it to see whether it can
take my weed and it takes my weed well
and it doesn’t break so I was like
alright it works so then I went ahead
and then made another prototype that’s
just a simple functional prototype it
looks like prototype that it’s not rated
to take human weight but then at least
it’s a prototype that I could go and
talk to the stakeholders to better
understand what did they think about
this because I’ve never worked with
prosthetics before so he went to doctors
and amputees to hear their thoughts and
I was surprised how amputees readily
understood this in fact one of them said
that he’s to play badminton before the
accident and now with with the current
prosthetic leg
he just can’t play badminton because the
leg is heavy and it’s not flexible and
with this he could just quite what he
needed but then all of them have the
concern it’s wood can it really take the
weight would it break and I thought
that’s a reasonable concern so then
again as a mechanical game I went to
multiple mechanical labs looking for
machines that could just help me figure
out could cane take the weight but then
it turns out that mechanical labs don’t
have appropriate machines because Kim’s
a composite and that’s not the domain
they work in I am eventually ended up at
the aerospace department at the
Indonesian of science wherein they had
given that they work with carbon fiber
which is a composite came being a
natural composite they had the machines
that could help me figure out in
characterized scheme and we were really
surprised how surprisingly well came
worked now that being said I didn’t want
to just make a leg that just about
worked where people could just about
walk I wanted something where people
could not just walk but grant
and dance so I went about searching for
amputees that had a penchant for sports
I put the word out and eventually I
ended up with mother
he’s a child who lost both his legs and
need and currently has two prosthetic
legs but also needs to crutches to walk
with and after connecting with
world-class coaches trained he was able
to train for the TCS 10k marathon
wherein he could walk without crutches
and now he was like well this is fine
this you know I can walk with this it’s
lightweight and flexible but you know I
can’t take this to whom or I can take it
to college because the leg looks weird
and I don’t want people to talk about my
leg I just want to go about and have a
normal life and we’re like that’s right
so then we went ahead and then developed
these cost but it covers that make it
look more like a leg and then we also
debated or on the skin covers wherein
it’s this digital printed skin texture
that can be color matched to the person
skintone making it very realistic
looking but same time we could use that
technology to even develop these art
covers wherein people could express
themselves what happened is we realized
that this is not just a leg that people
can walk with but it also became an
aspirational device where people could
pursue matters or or sports that they
otherwise couldn’t so then we created
what we call the program’s
you know the sports program the dance
program where we encourage amputees to
take up these activities and we connect
them with world-class facilities in fact
we have amputees who taken up dancing
taken up sports like marathons in fact
one of them took a bodybuilding and now
Perl he’s a fitness trainer –
able-bodied people and we also had the
opportunity to go to Switzerland where
and we had to compete with international
teams that came in with $70,000
prosthetic legs 100
the dollar prosthetic legs at this
obstacle race called Cybertron it held
alongside the Olympics and despite
having a leg that cost just a few
dollars we were able to turn first in to
one of the three races now now along
with this we were able to from here we
went on to work with world-class
organizations like the International
Committee of the Red Cross with MIT
Boston to further develop and refine the
device wherein we can now cater to the
masses and gently solve the problem in a
much larger and impactful manner and
also not just wanting to make a
lightweight cost-effective prosthetic
leg but also ensure that the leg is
delivered and cost-effectively executed
we work with frontline organizations
like the association of people with
disability with century and among so
many others that already have the
infrastructure so we don’t have to spend
money in fabrication or or or all those
facilities that all the cost savings we
pass it on to our customer and in return
the frontline grassroot organizations
they are able to make a more impact per
dollar and also improve their reach and
efficiency now call this a lean startup
call it frugal innovation but the
underlying premise is that is to look at
frugality of resources as a creative
constraint to tackle problems and come
up with alternative solutions now I want
to stress that by definition you
solutions through frugal innovation or
creative constraint need not be subpar
or Dugard like with adequate thought
they can still be elegant and
world-class sure or an average they
might be less complex or sophisticated
but they can still be nuanced and this
is not just applicable to hardware but
also systemic designs and process design
in fact with I contend that that we look
at frugal innovation not just from a
fiscal conservative conservative point
of view but then also to holistically
encompass frugality in spaces resources
manpower time the goal is to genuinely
solve a problem and not just create
another solution now increased dean eat
about how we are we are feeding building
resources especially in in a time of air
FMC geez of of disposable consumeristic
markets i think there is it is time that
frugal innovation not just be a fringe
design thinking process but rather it be
mainstreamed to genuinely use the
building resources that are out there I
mean look at it from a perspective of a
start-up in a company a startup has few
on average they have fewer people they
have few resources and their you width
tend to come up with innovative
solutions creative ideas by which they
can survive the existing market dynamics
companies on the other hand they have
more resources more people but yes they
are less agile less creative less
innovative but now it’s interesting as
to how companies are taking on frugal
innovation we’re in complete lycra no
less an Amazon Facebook Google they are
artificially constraining the teams they
start off with micro teams they start
off with limited timelines and budgets
and having a he’ll figure it out
I mean hackathons are frugal innovation
in itself so I contend that especially
as freelancers entrepreneurs startups
companies
it’s important to look at frugal
innovation or creative constraints as
not as a written restrictive or a
negative constraint but rather as a
conduit for creative creative thoughts
in fact in fact it’s possible in fact
it’s not just possible but rather there
are studies about how constraints
actually lead to more richer designs and
innovative solutions furthermore to end
this talk with the advent of technology
today it’s absolutely possible to do
more with less [Applause]
[Applause]
hello I’d like to talk to you about how
we make these prosthetic legs that is
length for people who don’t have a part
of their body that cost just a few
dollars that is lightweight flexible
that people did not just walk and work
with but they can also run play and
dance so much so that even when we went
to international competitions and
competed with prosthetic legs that cost
$70,000 and $100,000 that we held our
own and with almost having no budget or
no money to call a budget we were able
to be covered by BBC CNN History Channel
a video of our squat over 12 to 13
million views all this without a PR
campaign or communications team now I as
a mechanical engineer studied how
animals and robots walk and run very
simply put the leg is functionally or
mathematically a spring whether you’re
an elephant or an ant or whether you
have hundreds of leg like a centipede or
two legs like human the leg is
essentially a spring now it turns out
that even you have the skin furniture
that’s bent in all these beautiful
shapes that you can fit in now if it’s
bent and you can sit and can take your
weight essentially that’s a spring in
itself so now if if the Keen is a spring
and the human leg is a spring it was the
cutest B’s question as to whether I
could make a leg or of King so now not
having worked with King before I went
and spoke to a couple of local artisans
to see whether we could been keen about
the shape where they could take the
weight and they were like yeah it quite
can do the job so now
to better understand this to rapid
prototyping just to get my hands dirty I
essentially bunched together a couple of
sticks of Keeney and then put on a
parapet at somebody stand on one end and
I just step on it to see whether it can
take my weed and it takes my weed well
and it doesn’t break so I was like
alright it works so then I went ahead
and then made another prototype that’s
just a simple functional prototype it
looks like prototype that it’s not rated
to take human weight but then at least
it’s a prototype that I could go and
talk to the stakeholders to better
understand what did they think about
this because I’ve never worked with
prosthetics before so he went to doctors
and amputees to hear their thoughts and
I was surprised how amputees readily
understood this in fact one of them said
that he’s to play badminton before the
accident and now with with the current
prosthetic leg
he just can’t play badminton because the
leg is heavy and it’s not flexible and
with this he could just quite what he
needed but then all of them have the
concern it’s wood can it really take the
weight would it break and I thought
that’s a reasonable concern so then
again as a mechanical game I went to
multiple mechanical labs looking for
machines that could just help me figure
out could cane take the weight but then
it turns out that mechanical labs don’t
have appropriate machines because Kim’s
a composite and that’s not the domain
they work in I am eventually ended up at
the aerospace department at the
Indonesian of science wherein they had
given that they work with carbon fiber
which is a composite came being a
natural composite they had the machines
that could help me figure out in
characterized scheme and we were really
surprised how surprisingly well came
worked now that being said I didn’t want
to just make a leg that just about
worked where people could just about
walk I wanted something where people
could not just walk but grant
and dance so I went about searching for
amputees that had a penchant for sports
I put the word out and eventually I
ended up with mother
he’s a child who lost both his legs and
need and currently has two prosthetic
legs but also needs to crutches to walk
with and after connecting with
world-class coaches trained he was able
to train for the TCS 10k marathon
wherein he could walk without crutches
and now he was like well this is fine
this you know I can walk with this it’s
lightweight and flexible but you know I
can’t take this to whom or I can take it
to college because the leg looks weird
and I don’t want people to talk about my
leg I just want to go about and have a
normal life and we’re like that’s right
so then we went ahead and then developed
these cost but it covers that make it
look more like a leg and then we also
debated or on the skin covers wherein
it’s this digital printed skin texture
that can be color matched to the person
skintone making it very realistic
looking but same time we could use that
technology to even develop these art
covers wherein people could express
themselves what happened is we realized
that this is not just a leg that people
can walk with but it also became an
aspirational device where people could
pursue matters or or sports that they
otherwise couldn’t so then we created
what we call the program’s
you know the sports program the dance
program where we encourage amputees to
take up these activities and we connect
them with world-class facilities in fact
we have amputees who taken up dancing
taken up sports like marathons in fact
one of them took a bodybuilding and now
Perl he’s a fitness trainer –
able-bodied people and we also had the
opportunity to go to Switzerland where
and we had to compete with international
teams that came in with $70,000
prosthetic legs 100
the dollar prosthetic legs at this
obstacle race called Cybertron it held
alongside the Olympics and despite
having a leg that cost just a few
dollars we were able to turn first in to
one of the three races now now along
with this we were able to from here we
went on to work with world-class
organizations like the International
Committee of the Red Cross with MIT
Boston to further develop and refine the
device wherein we can now cater to the
masses and gently solve the problem in a
much larger and impactful manner and
also not just wanting to make a
lightweight cost-effective prosthetic
leg but also ensure that the leg is
delivered and cost-effectively executed
we work with frontline organizations
like the association of people with
disability with century and among so
many others that already have the
infrastructure so we don’t have to spend
money in fabrication or or or all those
facilities that all the cost savings we
pass it on to our customer and in return
the frontline grassroot organizations
they are able to make a more impact per
dollar and also improve their reach and
efficiency now call this a lean startup
call it frugal innovation but the
underlying premise is that is to look at
frugality of resources as a creative
constraint to tackle problems and come
up with alternative solutions now I want
to stress that by definition you
solutions through frugal innovation or
creative constraint need not be subpar
or Dugard like with adequate thought
they can still be elegant and
world-class sure or an average they
might be less complex or sophisticated
but they can still be nuanced and this
is not just applicable to hardware but
also systemic designs and process design
in fact with I contend that that we look
at frugal innovation not just from a
fiscal conservative conservative point
of view but then also to holistically
encompass frugality in spaces resources
manpower time the goal is to genuinely
solve a problem and not just create
another solution now increased dean eat
about how we are we are feeding building
resources especially in in a time of air
FMC geez of of disposable consumeristic
markets i think there is it is time that
frugal innovation not just be a fringe
design thinking process but rather it be
mainstreamed to genuinely use the
building resources that are out there I
mean look at it from a perspective of a
start-up in a company a startup has few
on average they have fewer people they
have few resources and their you width
tend to come up with innovative
solutions creative ideas by which they
can survive the existing market dynamics
companies on the other hand they have
more resources more people but yes they
are less agile less creative less
innovative but now it’s interesting as
to how companies are taking on frugal
innovation we’re in complete lycra no
less an Amazon Facebook Google they are
artificially constraining the teams they
start off with micro teams they start
off with limited timelines and budgets
and having a he’ll figure it out
I mean hackathons are frugal innovation
in itself so I contend that especially
as freelancers entrepreneurs startups
companies
it’s important to look at frugal
innovation or creative constraints as
not as a written restrictive or a
negative constraint but rather as a
conduit for creative creative thoughts
in fact in fact it’s possible in fact
it’s not just possible but rather there
are studies about how constraints
actually lead to more richer designs and
innovative solutions furthermore to end
this talk with the advent of technology
today it’s absolutely possible to do
more with less [Applause]
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