Hello! My name is Demirov Cheleb and I am 69 years old. In 1983, I had a work accident (electrical trauma), as a result of which I had both hands amputated at the level of the middle third of the shoulder. After that I went through difficult years of rehabilitation and psychological adaptation. I underwent a number of reconstructive operations. My first prosthesis of upper limbs was of domestic production, extremely uncomfortable, heavy and had only a cosmetic effect. I could not accept these circumstances as I wanted more! I didn’t want to believe that I would be dependent on others. I hated to see other people looking at me with pity. All my thoughts were only about creating a prosthesis that would bring me back my lost hands! These thoughts haunted me, I thought about my dreamed prosthesis day and night. I woke up and fell asleep thinking about the ideal prosthesis, many times I “reworked” and “perfected” them in my head. My engineering education has helped me in many ways. I knew how the ideal prosthesis should work, but didn’t have hands to assemble my first prototype. By that time my 5 sons had grown up and with their help I assembled my first self-made prosthetics, which I have been using already for more than 30 years. During all this time, I was approached by tens of disabled people asking for the same prosthesis. I managed to help all of them and they still use my prosthesis.

The functionality of my prosthesis allows me to eat, drink, and shave without assistance. I don’t depend on anybody. My prosthesis is made entirely of titanium and weighs only 1 kg. Its electronic components and chips were extracted from household power tools. I didn’t have to order any of its components as everything was made of handy materials and tools. The choice of material for making the prosthesis was not accidental, since the titanium has a light weight, sufficient strength and flexibility. It satisfies me in all aspects, but this is not the limit of my capabilities! I am sure that now, together with my team, we will be able to achieve results that I even never dreamed of. Our team of enthusiasts, consisting of a radio-electronics engineer, a composite engineer, a medical consultant, a mechanical engineer, a designer and skilled craftsmen, has already passed half of the journey to create a traction-electronic prosthesis based on a voice control technology and a machine vision. Our prosthesis will be controlled by voice with a machine vision support. It would be a prosthesis that will fit perfectly every disabled person without the use of electromyographic sensors. This will be a unique intellectual prosthetic hand, unmatched by market analogues.

Separately, I want to touch upon the topic of fixing the prosthesis to the stump. We have created an experimental model for fixing the prosthesis to the stump, which allows you to lift a load weighing up to 10 kg, without the use of any belts and clamps. In 2021-2022, we plan to conduct clinical trials of the above-mentioned fixator and obtain a patent for its invention. In case of successful clinical trials, we hope to solve the problem of damage caused to the skin of the stump by the sleeve of the prosthesis, as well as to make a comfortable wearing of the prosthesis which won’t depend on climatic conditions. I hope that would ease the life of disabled people.

Due to the fact that we use only manual labor to create prosthesis, the production of one prosthetic hand takes up to 30-45 working days. The use of machine tools and a 3D printer could speed up this work which would allow to produce one prosthesis in 15 working days and at the same time keep its production cost within 3,000 US dollars. Should our project be successful, we plan a mass market release of the first prototype of the upper limb prosthesis already in 2021. 

Each day we’re getting amazed by the progress of modern technologies and materials, however, the lack of sufficient financing restrains us from further experiments with materials. Nevertheless, our work never stops as we are slowly but firmly moving towards our goal!

We will be highly grateful for every possible support of our project. We do not offer you a reward in return for your help, because you will find your reward with your Lord. Great men once said: “Charity must be so secretive that the left hand shouldn’t know what the right hand gives away“. Join our project and you will help tens of thousands of people around the world to become self-sufficient persons and return to a full life!