Cristian Fracassi, the low-cost prosthesis engineer for the wounded in the Ukrainian conflict
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“Hello? We are a non-profit organization of doctors working in Ukraine. There are 3 thousand people, including children, who were victims of the bombing and lost a leg. Prostheses cost between 5 and 80 thousand euros. We have no budget, for now we only give crutches. Can you do something for us with the 3D printer?”.
This is something like the phone call that Cristian Fracassi, the engineer who transformed diving masks into respiratory masks during the pandemic, received a month and a half ago. On the other side of the line is Antonella Bertolotti, doctors from Brescia who work in Ukraine for the non-profit organization Intermed. “Suddenly I found myself faced with a huge problem. I was skeptical, I was afraid. We needed “prostheses” that have to last for years and hold up kilos of weight. But the desire to try was very strong. Three thousand people were waiting for me…”.
So Fracassi gets to work. He lets go of all the projects he has in mind, looks at traditional prostheses, studies, understands their limits, learns, tests. He spends days and nights in the office. Then he comes up with the idea: “I“ hacked ”the tutor they give you after knee surgery. I bought it on Amazon and started modifying it.” He brings together different materials, aluminum for the tubular, polyurethane for the foot, 3D printed pieces for the cover. He makes five prototypes. And in the end he succeeds. He creates a low-cost, ready-to-use “prosthesis” (“technically it should be called a walking aid”) to solve the problem of 3,000 mutilated by the war in Ukraine. He deposits the patent, leaves it free for those with humanitarian ends. And he calls the project “Letizia”, in honor of two special women.
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“Letizia is the name of my mum, the first person who taught me to walk. And Letizia is the name of the girl who tried the prototypes and gave me a lot of feedback”. To help him, also an orthopedic from Brescia, Davide Piovani, a Ukrainian head physician of the Vinnytsya hospital, a nurse from Rome, friends, relatives and precisely her: Letizia, 34 years old and lost a leg at the age of 5 due to an illness. Found with a post on Linkedin.
“We met in my office, he told me his story, he brought me his old prosthesis as a gift, he made me study the new one he’s wearing, he told me about some problems (the artificial skin of the foot wears out). And it gave me feedback.”
Cristian had thought of making the foot in carbon fiber, but it is a material that costs money and wears out. So he opts for polyurethane, a more resistant material than rubber and which costs less. “It’s what all the wheels of carts and skates are made from.
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And the first tests he does on himself. “I had seen the film Benvenuti al Sud in which Claudio Bisio played the fake invalid. I tried to imitate him. I tied the ankle to the thigh with a belt. I take the first step and the foot breaks. I do it again, it works. Second prototype: I try the aid, the knee swings. It was weak, I strengthen it. Third prototype: it seems ok, but it hurts unbelievably. The fourth prototype to try it is Letizia, the orthopedist assists her. The prosthesis slips, the stump lowers. “Put a limit switch, a silicone cushion where the stump will fall and you’ll see that it works” she advised me”. No sooner said than done. Then with 3D printing he creates the “cover” of the prosthesis which is thus more aesthetically beautiful and more functional.
Complete and finished project. For the use of materials and screws: cost 500 euros
At this point, Fracassi starts looking for funds. He calls friends, relatives, supporters and in two days raises capital for 22 thousand euros. “I’m gassed, perhaps I’m underestimating the problems (which were endless with masks). It’s the first “prosthesis” that costs very little, it’s modular, it’s good for everyone. It adapts to any type of leg”.
Mathematics champion, degree in construction engineering and architecture, doctorate in materials engineering, master in economics, Fracassi has many patents behind him. During the pandemic, he 3D printed the Charlotte valve (named after his wife) in just 8 hours, which allowed a connection between the mask and oxygen. The file with the instructions for this process has been downloaded on YouTube more than 2 million 500 times. The World’s Media, dal New York Times at the BBCthey talked about his ingenuity.
In May 2020, he was appointed Knight of Merit by the President of the Republic Mattarella. He won the Compasso D’oro. He ended up in a Google video, in a Jeep advertisement, in an interview with Coca Cola: as a symbol of Italian inventiveness. He won the Mother Teresa Memorial Award, an award already given to the Dalai Lama.
“I’m not a genius, I’m not even an inventor. I do technology transfer”. Then, to make you understand what he means, he tells you what his lawyer, who protects patents by trade, always tells him. “Cristian, new ideas don’t exist. Look at the books, if you analyze them they are made of the 21 letters of the alphabet which, mixed and moved, are able to create an infinite number of stories. I transferred this thing into my world. In engineering there are physical principles, which you can know and put together like the 21 letters. Here I mix things that already exist. I’m just good at observing”.
Where was your curiosity born? If you ask him, Cristian smiles and starts talking about his childhood when he played in his father’s factory (you can read his biography here written wonderfully by our director Riccardo Luna)
“I was born and raised in my father’s textile company. Fabrics were my cradle. There I learned how machines work. Since then I have never stopped observing. I study how a parabola is made, I fall in love with motors air Stirling. I look at the laminated wood planks. I quickly learned how to make things work. And do you know why? My dad was a super stingy. His mentality was and still is to always save money. When something went wrong in the company, the first time he called a technician. He asked him a thousand questions: what screw did you use, why do you do this and not that, and forced me to observe and learn. So the next time, when another machine broke down, he said to me: “come and give a hand”, find a solution”.
It’s Sunday morning, Cristian is in the office. In the background you can hear the noise of the 3D printers that are at work. For tomorrow he wants to have 43 prostheses ready, the ones he manages to build with the funds he has already raised. Meanwhile he looks for new capital, nurtures new dreams (like that of making the deserts arable). And he doesn’t give up. “I want to dedicate my next conquest to my daughter Beatrice”.
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