DRDO, AIIMS Bibinagar unveil first indigenous advanced carbon fibre foot prosthesis; to cost under ₹20,000

The Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) of DRDO, in collaboration with AIIMS Bibinagar, on Monday unveiled the first make-in-India cost-effective advanced carbon fibre foot prosthesis.

The prosthesis, named AIIMS Bibinagar – DRDL, DRDO Indigenously Developed Optimised Carbon Foot Prosthesis (ADIDOC), was launched at AIIMS Bibinagar under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative.

The launch event was attended by Dr G A Srinivasa Murthy, Distinguished Scientist and Director, DRDL, and Dr Ahanthem Santa Singh, Executive Director, AIIMS Bibinagar, a government release said on Tuesday.

According to the release, ADIDOC is biomechanically tested for loads up to 125 kg with a sufficient factor of safety and is available in three variants to cater to patients of different weights. It aims to provide a high-quality and affordable solution accessible to a larger population, delivering performance at par with available international models.

"The ADIDOC Foot is an indigenously designed, and biomechanically tested to loads up to 125 kg with sufficient factor of safety and is designed for highly dynamic K3-level active users offering high performance at an affordable cost," DRDO posted on X.

Currently, similar imported products cost around ₹2 lakh, whereas the indigenous prosthesis is expected to cost less than ₹20,000 in production, it said.

“This innovation is expected to significantly improve accessibility to high-quality prosthetics for low-income group amputees in India, reduce dependency on imported technologies, and support broader social and economic inclusion for people with disabilities,” the release added.