Making things work again
Aruna Samarawickrama’s natural looking ‘Live Flex’ artificial limb gives disabled people a leg up and a new lease of life
N.K. Hemawathi was walking to her regular spot at the market when it happened. A flash of colour, the screech of a tyre and she was on the ground. “About 50 people crowded around me,” she remembers. “They started beating the driver through the window and he was so agitated he drove right over my foot.” A few weeks later her left leg was amputated from the knee. Now almost two years after the accident Hemawathi is thankfully back on her feet - the satisfied user of a ‘Live Flex’ leg, an artificial limb designed by Aruna Samarawickrama.
We meet Hemawathi and a few others like her when we visit Samarawickrama’s company ‘Aawas International’ in Kalutara. Here, he builds and fits the artificial limb that he designed in 2005. The Live Flex leg is an unusually realistic looking limb with natural movement in the toes and ankle, working in a similar fashion to a natural leg when engaging in physical activity. The leg was patented for its unique design that allows the manufacturer to customise it to suit height and weight requirements while maintaining ankle movement. Today a few other manufacturers have also stepped in-yet the inventor declares himself satisfied with what he has achieved.
Mr. Samarawickrama grew up in Matara. He studied for his Advanced Levels in the Commerce stream, moving on to work with mechanics at a garage near home. The inspiration for the design of the limb came via a soldier friend who lost a leg in the Chavakachcheri battle field in 2005. “It was very difficult for him to adjust to his life,” Samarawickrama remembers. “He was unhappy in his relationship as well, and I remember thinking ‘if only he was able to move around like before’.” At this point we’re gently reminded that this is the thought almost every person disabled in their adulthood lives with. “So I sat down and thought about it, and the design came to me.”
It is at this point of the interview that we look at him in polite disbelief. He immediately spots this and laughs uproariously. “You don’t believe me, do you?” It’s true, he assures us. “I never studied physics or even a science or math subject after O/Ls. It’s difficult to explain but I’ve always just known how things work-it’s there in my mind, I just have to apply myself.” The problem with this generation is its inability to move beyond what has been established, he remonstrates. “Newton said this is so, Pythagoras said that is so, and now we’re all stuck in this box unwilling to even consider the possibility that there might be more.” Further disbelief. Did he just dispute the Law of Gravitation? He laughs again. “Of course not! They were great thinkers and changed how we look at things but that was because they themselves thought out of the box for their generation, yes?”
We decide to move on. Samarawickrama describes how he developed that first prototype to make it as realistic as possible. Now, the Live Flex leg looks remarkably real (unless you lean right in) thanks to lifelike veining and its versatility-Aawas takes a user’s measurements before customdesigning the leg, matching the user’s height, weight, skin colour and even shoe size. A version of the Live Flex limb is also available for those with a partially amputated foot. “The idea is to give as realistic an experience as possible to the user,” remarks Samarawickrama.
He was awarded a Presidential Award for Innovation in 2005 for the design, a silver medal in the science sector at the 35th Inventors Competition held in Geneva (2007), Bronze at the New Invention Fair in Seoul (2009) and a Dasis Award in 2012, winning the first place for best overall invention in the commercialised invention category (Sri Lanka). These are just a few among many accolades he has received over the years. Samarawickrama is more interested in how he can make the limb more widely available. He has turned down several offers over the last decade for the right to use the design-“I’m almost always approached at interna- tional fairs by companies willing to pay millions of dollars for the design,” he shares. “I’ve kept turning them down. It’s more important for me to be able to say that this is a Sri Lankan product and drive revenue in to the country.” He is currently exploring options to take the limb abroad with other Lankan partners, however, saying “I can’t hang on to my ideals forever!”
For the moment, Samarawickrama is concentrating efforts on raising funds for the annual ‘Utthama Pooja’, where Aawas together with his Sahodarathwaye Piyasatahan Foundation donates limbs to the needy. Last year’s programme raised enough funds to donate 65 limbs. This year’s plan is to donate limbs to soldiers, civilians and animals together with Manusath Derana at the Katharagama Kiriwehera. (For more information see www.piyasatahan.org)
Samarawickrama has also designed an automatic safety rail gate, a plucking unit for tea tenders and an active assembling unit for crutches. Being shortlisted for the Ray has already brought in significant rewards, he adds. “This is the first time I’ve been judged by a panel so well qualified to look at my invention from every possible angle. They’ve been very helpful with advice on how to market the limb to more people.”
Hemawathi too wishes she knew about this earlier. “The doctors amputated my leg from the knee because they didn’t know a limb had been designed for a partially amputated foot as well,” she says wistfully. “But what can you do? I’m able to get around on my own thanks to this leg and no one treats me differently, because it’s difficult for them to tell the difference between my natural leg and this from a distance. Now whenever I see someone like me struggling with their prosthetic limb I tell them about this leg. It has changed my life.”