Healthcare is one of the sectors that designers are focusing on more after the pandemic.
In recent months I have seen everything, especially in the field of generative design. From mobile intensive care units to 3D printed breathing valves and home health monitoring devices. The design community is focusing on creating products to help healthcare professionals and patients reduce the load on the overall system. The SCALED brace is one of them.
We cannot avoid accidents, but with Scaled we can find ourselves better prepared to face them
SCALED is a dynamic guardian project that aims to do exactly that: protect and heal to improve quality of life. The principle behind SCALED could constitute the next generation of “cast”, or brace, combining safety and mobility in wearable protection with a futuristic, almost superhero-like appearance.
Research shows that human joint injuries are often recurrent and can cause long-term immobility. Scaled's designer, Natalie Kerres, she then studied nature in search of inspiration to find a solution and focused on animals that have a brace already incorporated: shells or scales.
Kerres wanted to design a product that mimics natural protection and allows healing while ensuring flexibility: that's how SCALED was born.
The geometry of animal scales has changed during the process of evolution based on environmental parameters critical for survival. A scale structure is able to distribute the impact force and, moreover, is flexible in one direction and rigid in another
Natalie Kerres, designers
SCALED, dynamic plaster that protects freely
The goal of the SCALED project is to investigate the potential of a structure to cure (as if it were a dynamic cast) or even prevent joint injuries.
Whether it is a cast, a brace or a bandage, current remedies greatly limit movement and completely block the part of the body awaiting healing. Impaired mobility leads to muscle wasting, and not infrequently the need for rehabilitation.
SCALED is a nature-inspired solution for a flexible protective wearable
Generative design (which has also shown wonders on footwear, bike helmets is… homes!) allows the structure to meet the exact needs of the wearer and limit movement by adjusting pre-set parameters.
SCALED, biomimetic brace with generative design
The geometry of SCALED is inspired by lizards, fish and pangolins. More than a product, it is an absolutely scalable system of interlocking protections able to cover different parts of the body.
The developed algorithm designs a data-driven, personalized and responsive scaling structure according to user specifications.
The era of the biodynamic brace begins
SCALED can be used for injury prevention, rehabilitation and sports performance improvement through motion control.
The project has already received funding, and when it goes into production we will be able to heal injuries or fractures in a whole new way.
An “armor” cut and printed to measure for us will allow us much more freedom of movement to increase sports performance, or to give the painful part time to heal.
