[QUOTE][IMG]http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2011/newbionicleg.jpg[/IMG][URL="http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2011/newbionicleg.jpg"]Enlarge[/URL]
Professor Michael Goldfarb, right, with amputee Craig Hutto who is wearing the new bionic leg developed at Vanderbilt. (John Russell, Vanderbilt University)
[B]A new lower-limb prosthetic developed at Vanderbilt University allows amputees to walk without the leg-dragging gait characteristic of conventional artificial legs.[/B]
The device uses the latest advances in computer, sensor, electric motor and battery technology to give it bionic capabilities: It is the first prosthetic with powered knee and ankle joints that operate in unison. It comes equipped with[URL="http://www.physorg.com/tags/sensors/"]sensors[/URL] that monitor its user’s motion. It has microprocessors programmed to use this data to predict what the person is trying to do and operate the device in ways that facilitate these movements.
“When it’s working, it’s totally different from my current prosthetic,” said Craig Hutto, the 23-year-old amputee who has been testing the leg for several years. “A passive leg is always a step behind me. The Vanderbilt leg is only a split-second behind.”
The bionic leg is the result of a seven-year research effort at the Vanderbilt Center for Intelligent Mechatronics, directed by Michael Goldfarb, the H. Fort Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering. The project was initially funded by a seed grant from the National Science Foundation, followed by a development grant from the National Institutes of Health. Key aspects of the design have been patented by the university, which has granted exclusive rights to develop the prosthesis to Freedom Innovations, a leading developer and manufacturer of lower limb prosthetic devices.
“With our latest model, we have validated our hypothesis that the right technology was available to make a lower-limb prosthetic with powered knee and ankle joints,” said Goldfarb. “Our device illustrates the progress we are making at integrating man and machine.”
The Vanderbilt prosthesis is designed for daily life. It makes it substantially easier for an amputee to walk, sit, stand, and go up and down stairs and ramps. Studies have shown that users equipped with the device naturally walk 25 percent faster on level surfaces than when they use passive lower-limb prosthetics. That is because it takes users 30 to 40 percent less of their own energy to operate.
“Going up and down slopes is one of the hardest things to do with a conventional leg,” said Hutto. “So I have to be conscious of where I go because I can get very tired walking up and down slopes. But that won’t be a problem with the powered leg because it goes up and down slopes almost like a natural leg.”
Recent technological advances have allowed the Vanderbilt engineers to produce a device that weighs about nine pounds – less than most human lower legs – and can operate for three days of normal activity, or 13 to 14 kilometers of continuous walking, on a single charge. They have also dramatically reduced the amount of noise that the latest model makes, although it is slightly louder than they would like.
One of the latest capabilities that the engineers have added is an anti-stumble routine. If the leg senses that its user is starting to stumble, it will lift up the leg to clear any obstruction and plant the foot on the floor.
In order to incorporate all the improvements, the prosthetic’s hardware design has gone through seven versions and its electronics board has been redone 15 times.
According to Goldfarb, it was tough to make the prosthetic light and quiet enough. In particular, it was difficult to fit the powerful motors and drive train that they needed into the volume available. The biggest technical challenge, however, was to develop the control system.
“As you add greater capability, you are also adding greater liability,” he said. “Not only does the controller have to perform individual operations reliability, but it has to perform several operations at the same time and not get confused.”
The Center for Intelligent Mechatronics is also developing an anthropomorphic prosthetic arm project and an advanced exoskeleton to aid in physical therapy.[/QUOTE]
My legs are now augmented.
[URL]http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-08-bionic-leg-amputees-natural-gait.html[/URL]
I never asked for this.
wait, so gait is basically the bionic term for lag?
[QUOTE=labbet;31800199]wait, so gait is basically the bionic term for lag?[/QUOTE]
More like the general term for motion/movement.
Awesome stuff. But probably the last we'll ever hear about it. There's no way this was cheap and quick to build.
The only downside is that it's made out of his wife.
[QUOTE=Squeaken;31800084]I never asked for this.[/QUOTE]
You're right, it needs a minigun and a coffee maker.
I remember when this was Science Fiction.
Tho I do always wonder how these things are powered. Not long ago on TED I saw a partial exoskeleton that needed a big battery carried in a backpack, but apparently full prosthetics are less power-hungry or something.
Would be awesome of course if there was technology that converted ATP-bioenergy into electricity at such an efficiency level the user would never have to recharge their stuff.
It must be weird not being able to feel the bionic leg especially when walking. The only place you'd feel pressure on would be where it joined onto your body.
You get so accustomed to walking and not realising how handy it is to be able to feel the pressure of your foot impacting against the ground that it must be really off putting when you first start walking on a replacement leg like that.
That leg looks pretty tactic00l. Reminds me of the bionic arm from Halo: Reach, minus random pointlessly spinning gears.
So a bionic leg reminds you of a bionic arm? Wow thanks for sharing.
[QUOTE=Cone;31800706]That leg looks pretty tactic00l. Reminds me of the bionic arm from Halo: Reach, minus random pointlessly spinning gears.[/QUOTE]
Fascinating.
Well judging from your other posts, you won't last long here.
[QUOTE=sltungle;31800682]It must be weird not being able to feel the bionic leg especially when walking. The only place you'd feel pressure on would be where it joined onto your body.
You get so accustomed to walking and not realising how handy it is to be able to feel the pressure of your foot impacting against the ground that it must be really off putting when you first start walking on a replacement leg like that.[/QUOTE]
I'd imagine it would become an extension of yourself after some time.
I can't stop thinking about the toys when I'm reading this
[QUOTE=labbet;31800199]wait, so gait is basically the bionic term for lag?[/QUOTE]
This is a gait:
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Elephant_Walking_animated.gif[/img]
gaiters gonna gait
[QUOTE=sltungle;31800682]It must be weird not being able to feel the bionic leg especially when walking. The only place you'd feel pressure on would be where it joined onto your body.
You get so accustomed to walking and not realising how handy it is to be able to feel the pressure of your foot impacting against the ground that it must be really off putting when you first start walking on a replacement leg like that.[/QUOTE]I'd say they get used to it sooner or later, learning what amount of pressure where on where it joins means the leg is doing different things.
Or they spend a lot of time looking at their feet.
[QUOTE=sltungle;31800682]It must be weird not being able to feel the bionic leg especially when walking. The only place you'd feel pressure on would be where it joined onto your body.
You get so accustomed to walking and not realising how handy it is to be able to feel the pressure of your foot impacting against the ground that it must be really off putting when you first start walking on a replacement leg like that.[/QUOTE]
Sometime in the future no doubt they'll find a way to interface sensory feed-back directly to the nervous system so it literally feels like you never lost your limb.
Brilliant!
[QUOTE=labbet;31800199]wait, so gait is basically the bionic term for lag?[/QUOTE]
lol omg im lagging irl
[editline]18th August 2011[/editline]
:downs:
This is brilliant, totally gave him his life back. When he started walking, would he have fell over a lot because of the in balance until he got used to it?
[QUOTE=Contag;31801266]I'd imagine it would become an extension of yourself after some time.[/QUOTE]
Oh yeah, definitely, but it'd be pretty fucking weird for a few days or weeks I'm guessing.
Eventually you'd replace the need of knowing how much pressure to put on your foot to the knowing how much pressure you had to exert between the mechanical leg and your... uh... stump.
I can't wait for fake legs that acts and feels like a normal leg
Anyone have a video of the leg? I'd love to see the thing in action!
If I ever get bionic anything, I'm always going to clench my fist and say, "I never asked for this" every time I wake up.
What a shame.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DAPXMZk2iw[/media]
Oh great, yet another thread about the amazing progress of prosthetic technology besmirched by stupid, unfunny faggots who think they're hi-fucking-larious by spouting Deus Ex references. You shitwads are about as funny as a Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer movie coupled with a rusty-cleaver amputation.
[QUOTE=Dr. Fishtastic;31807682]Oh great, yet another thread about the amazing progress of prosthetic technology besmirched by stupid, unfunny faggots who think they're hi-fucking-larious by spouting Deus Ex references. You shitwads are about as funny as a Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer movie coupled with a rusty-cleaver amputation.[/QUOTE]
Your my new best friend.
[QUOTE=Dr. Fishtastic;31807682]Oh great, yet another thread about the amazing progress of prosthetic technology besmirched by stupid, unfunny faggots who think they're hi-fucking-larious by spouting Deus Ex references. You shitwads are about as funny as a Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer movie coupled with a rusty-cleaver amputation.[/QUOTE]
holy tits
what crawled into your anal sphincter and exploded
Seriously, does anyone think they could dig up a video?
[QUOTE=Diet Kane;31807954]holy tits
what crawled into your anal sphincter and exploded[/QUOTE]It is getting annoying, I'm a big fan of the series and these references are annoying and usually not even relevant.
Half the shit in the threads in this section are irrelevant.
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