Biomimetic Collar

This bespoke neck collar was developed for a patient with a neurodegenerative disorder, in whom all traditional and commercial approaches had failed. She now uses the device every day, with improvement in her posture and breathing. The workflow for creating this neck support could equally be applied to other parts of the body to rapidly generate beautiful and functional designs.

The collar was made using a digital workflow that combines 3D scanning, procedural design and 3D printing. This process was developed as an alternative to traditional, time-consuming methods of manually casting, sculpting and moulding plastic. Here, the collar is automatically fitted to and relaxed away from the body. An algorithm is used to mimic the structure of bone, so it is porous and light, but also sufficiently strong. The workflow could hopefully be applied in the future to create fully personalised orthoses much more quickly and efficiently.