Custom seats validated by child
The Custom-Fit project to produce seats for ride on toys that support their riders by being moulded to their body shape has reached a conclusion and been validated by its first user
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The child in question is seven years old and has a left leg joint that turns through 360 deg, hindering his attachment to any type of vehicle seat.
To make the seat, he was sat on a deformable cushion that was laser scanned and the result converted to STL format. A design of the external shape of the seat was produced using Delcam’s PowerShape software, with the assistance of improved algorithms developed as part of the project. The prototype seat was then manufactured using selective laser sintering with a polyamide material, attached to the toy quad bike and validated by the child.
Safety tests according to standard EN 71 concerning the safety of toys were undertaken and the results sent to the European Committee of Standardisation (CEN/TC52) in order to inform them and provoke reflection regarding products that could suit specific end users in certain conditions.
Apart from toy vehicle seats, Custom-Fit is looking at applications such as custom seats for motorcycles and helmets for motorcyclists as well as medical products such as prosthesis, jaw implants and knee implants. Several European companies are now involved in the project which is headquartered at AIJU in Alicante, Spain.
