I was born and raised in Sierra Leone, a small and very beautiful country in West Africa, a country rich both in physical resources and creative talent.
我喺塞拉里昂出世長大 塞拉里昂係一個 位於西非嘅,細但美麗嘅國家 塞拉里昂擁有 豐富嘅天然資源同創新人才 但係,塞拉里昂唔出名
However, Sierra Leone is infamous for a decade-long rebel war in the '90s when entire villages were burnt down. An estimated 8,000 men, women and children had their arms and legs amputated during this time. As my family and I ran for safety when I was about 12 from one of those attacks, I resolved that I would do everything I could to ensure that my own children would not go through the same experiences we had. They would, in fact, be part of a Sierra Leone where war and amputation were no longer a strategy for gaining power.
原因係九十年代 打咗十年嘅反抗戰爭 全部村莊都被燒毀 據統計大約八千名男人、女人同兒童 喺戰爭期間失去手同腳 我同家庭喺我十二歲嗰年 遇到嘅一次襲擊之後走難 嗰陣我決定要盡一切辦法 令自己嘅小朋友 唔需要再經歷我哋曾經經歴過嘅苦痛 塞拉里昂嘅兒童 唔會再經歷呢啲慘痛嘅事 塞拉里昂再唔會 有人靠發動戰爭同殘害他人身體去奪權
As I watched people who I knew, loved ones, recover from this devastation, one thing that deeply troubled me was that many of the amputees in the country would not use their prostheses. The reason, I would come to find out, was that their prosthetic sockets were painful because they did not fit well. The prosthetic socket is the part in which the amputee inserts their residual limb, and which connects to the prosthetic ankle. Even in the developed world, it takes a period of three weeks to often years for a patient to get a comfortable socket, if ever. Prosthetists still use conventional processes like molding and casting to create single-material prosthetic sockets. Such sockets often leave intolerable amounts of pressure on the limbs of the patient, leaving them with pressure sores and blisters. It does not matter how powerful your prosthetic ankle is. If your prosthetic socket is uncomfortable, you will not use your leg, and that is just simply unacceptable in our age.
當我望著我識得嘅、鍾意嘅人 戰後過返正常生活 有一件事情深深咁困擾著我 塞拉里昂有好多傷殘嘅人唔用義肢 我後嚟發現佢哋唔用義肢嘅原因 係由於義肢嘅穿戴嘅地方 唔係好套到落隻腳到而造成痛楚 義肢嘅穿戴嘅地方係 殘疾人士嘅腳套入去義肢嘅地方 噉義肢另一端就係腳跟關節 即使喺發達國家 病人都需要三星期至幾年嘅時間 至會達到一個舒適嘅義肢穿戴狀態 義肢矯形師仍然用梗傳統方法 好似塑模同鑄造 加上用單一物料,製成義肢穿戴嘅凹位 噉樣嘅凹位往往向病人隻腳 施加好大嘅壓力 因為噉而生咗褥瘡同水泡 就算義肢腳跟關節好有力都係咁話 如果義肢穿戴嘅凹位唔舒服 你會唔想行 凹位唔舒服喺宜家嚟講係唔可以接受嘅
So one day, when I met professor Hugh Herr about two and a half years ago, and he asked me if I knew how to solve this problem, I said, "No, not yet, but I would love to figure it out." And so, for my Ph.D. at the MIT Media Lab, I designed custom prosthetic sockets quickly and cheaply that are more comfortable than conventional prostheses. I used magnetic resonance imaging to capture the actual shape of the patient's anatomy, then use finite element modeling to better predict the internal stresses and strains on the normal forces, and then create a prosthetic socket for manufacture. We use a 3D printer to create a multi-material prosthetic socket which relieves pressure where needed on the anatomy of the patient. In short, we're using data to make novel sockets quickly and cheaply. In a recent trial we just wrapped up at the Media Lab, one of our patients, a U.S. veteran who has been an amputee for about 20 years and worn dozens of legs, said of one of our printed parts, "It's so soft, it's like walking on pillows, and it's effing sexy." (Laughter)
咁有一日,大概兩年半之前 我遇到 Hugh Herr 教授 佢問我係咪知道點樣解決呢個問題 我話:冇,仲未呀 但我好鍾意解決咗佢 喺我麻省理工學院 媒體實驗室嘅博士學位裏面 我設計咗個自選嘅義肢套 又快又平 相對傳統義肢,新義肢更加舒服 我利用磁力共振掌握病人腳部嘅構造 然後通過有限單元模型更加精準咁預測 喺正向力嘅情況下內部嘅壓力同張力 然後鑄造一個義肢套嘅模,用嚟生產 我哋利用一台 3D 打印機嚟整出 一個由複合材料製成嘅義肢套 佢能夠減輕傷殘人士身體嘅壓力 即係話,我哋通過收集人體工學嘅資料 又平又快咁製造義肢套 最近一次喺媒體實驗室裡面 完成嘅試驗當中 我哋其中一位病人 佢係一個切肢已經廿年 著過幾打義肢嘅美國退役軍人 佢話我哋其中一件打印製成品 好柔軟,好似喺枕頭上面行路一樣 而且係抵死嘅性感 (笑聲)
Disability in our age should not prevent anyone from living meaningful lives. My hope and desire is that the tools and processes we develop in our research group can be used to bring highly functional prostheses to those who need them. For me, a place to begin healing the souls of those affected by war and disease is by creating comfortable and affordable interfaces for their bodies. Whether it's in Sierra Leone or in Boston, I hope this not only restores but indeed transforms their sense of human potential.
殘疾喺我哋今日嘅情況嚟講 唔應該阻到任何人過有意義嘅生活 我希望我哋喺研究小組裏面 開發嘅工具同發展嘅步驟 可以向需要嘅人提供高性能嘅義肢 對於我嚟講 要醫好因戰爭同疾病而受傷嘅靈魂 首先就要係為佢哋 整一個舒適、可負擔嘅活動輔助工具 無論係塞拉里昂或者波士頓 我希望呢個研發唔單止恢復 仲可以改變佢哋嘅潛能
Thank you very much.
多謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)