Korea's labor ministry says prosthetic leg wins Red Dot's Best of the Best

The labor ministry said Thursday that a prosthetic leg developed in-house by the Korea Workers' Compensation and Insurance Service won the top prize at the Red Dot Design Award 2026.

The bio-mimetic generative prosthetic leg took the Best of the Best award in the medical devices and technology field of the design concept category. It was also named a Red Dot Winner in the product design category. The awards follow the service's grand prize at the 25th Ergonomic Design Award last year.

The prosthesis was built around three-dimensional body shape data from the intact leg of a person with an amputation. Generative design and topology optimization were used to integrate the user's body form and structural function into a single frame, and the part was produced by metal additive manufacturing using an aluminum alloy, AlSi10Mg, in a selective laser melting process.

Rather than concealing the mechanical structure beneath a cover, the prosthesis is designed so that its own structure serves as the design.

The Korea Workers' Compensation and Insurance Service operates a rehabilitation engineering research institute that develops prosthetics, orthotics and rehabilitation aids for workers injured on the job, and the service said it is expanding product development that combines user-centered design with advanced manufacturing technology. Park Seung-heup, the service's chairman, said the award was meaningful because the research had considered the user's body and mind together.

"We will continue to develop rehabilitation aids that let injured workers feel change in their daily lives, supporting improvements in their quality of life and their return to work," Park said.

The award ceremony for the design concept category is scheduled for Oct. 15 at the Capitol Theatre in Singapore's Civic District, and the winning works will be shown internationally through Red Dot's official and online exhibitions.