e-Porthos

e-Porthos is a £730km, 18 month collaborative research and development project co-funded by
Innovate UK and the collaborative partners. The 3 project partners, from across academia and
market sectors are University of Newcastle and Peacocks Medical Group with project lead KW
Special Projects.
Our demonstrator application is foot orthoses. These are medical devices proscribed to
patients who have a foot disorder, and the devices are designed to re-align the foot or provide
comfort to patients. The devices take the form of an insole which fits between the foot and
shoe, and the devices are custom made to fit a particular patient. Additive Manufacturing (AM)
has grown as manufacturing method for orthoses due to the ease of manufacture and reduced
waste, but relatively slow build time, when compared to traditional subtractive manufacturing.
Our innovation is twofold; firstly we intend to exploit a nascent technology, to massively
increase the deposition rate achievable for the manufacture, which offers the benefits of
reducing unit cost, and potentially allowing for "while you wait" supply. The second innovation
regards disrupting the manufacturing process and allowing the clinician who measures the foot
to use data capture and design tools to automatically create the Computer Aided Manufacture
(CAM) data to manufacture the orthotic.
Through this project the consortium aim to generate technology and expertise to improve
outcomes for our customers, both patients and healthcare providers, thorough better fitting
and less expensive orthoses. Whilst developing AM platforms and solution supply within the
UK economy.
The project started on 1st September 2017 and is due to complete on 28th February 2019 with the output being a functioning printing process using Augmented Reality to print foot orthoses quicker than at present.