Campbell Larkman

Product Design Engineering

Hello! My name is Campbell Larkman - a Product Design Engineer with a strong passion for 3D visualisation. Over the last few years, I have worked diligently developing my skills in 3D CAD, 3D rendering, product concept generation and rapid prototyping. Throughout my projects at Swinburne, I have applied and strengthened these various skills that have provided me with the opportunity to tackle different and challenging design problems.

For my final year project, I have developed the ARC - The Adaptive Rock Climber Prosthetic Foot, aimed to assist lower-limb amputee rock climbers.

Sports and recreational fitness activities have become more and more accessible for those living with disability. Lower-limb amputees have access to a wide range of prostheses, that allow them to overcome many day-to-day challenges and gain the ability to participate in these adapted sports. However, the prostheses market severely lacks options for amputees who wish to participate in climbing.

Many prosthetics are designed and built for walking, running, and other forms of gait restoration, whereas climbing presents a physically demanding set of unique movements a person must overcome. Many existing prosthetics on the market are unsuitable for climbing as they are not stable enough, do not replicate the natural push of leaping up the wall and pose an increased risk in slipping and falling.

ARC addresses this shortcoming with an adaptive prosthetic climbing foot which connects seamlessly to an existing prosthetic socket. ARC provides enhanced support and features a force-reaction spring system which enables the amputee to manoeuvre naturally when scaling bouldering challenges and allows them to overcome the dynamic movements other prosthetics fail to provide.

ARC - Adaptive Rock Climber prosthetic foot.

ARC - A prosthetic solution to assist amputees in regaining limb function that can overcome the various challenges of rock climbing.

Assembly components of the ARC.

Rotational Limit Stop showcased in the ARC - a mechanism used to adjust the angle of downwards flexion the foot is allowed to rotate to.

Utilising complex surface modelling to achieve curvature and flow throughout the design.

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.