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Post subject: Robotic replacements
 Posted: Jul 24, 2007 - 01:32 AM
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Joined: Nov 17, 2002
Posts: 7598
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
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Robotic Ankles for veterans.
Robotic ankles ease pain, quicken strides for war veterans
By Ray Henry, Associated Press Writer | July 23, 2007
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Garth Stewart lost his left leg four years ago when a bomb ripped through it in Baghdad. The leg had to be amputated below the knee, but the young Army gunner was determined to get moving again. He refused to spend more than three weeks at a stateside hospital and quickly got an artificial foot -- then qualified as a martial arts instructor.
Despite his fitness and four years of practice, Stewart said walking without an ankle still means a slower stride and lower back pain.
Stewart and others like him hope that will change with a new kind of robotic ankle that uses a battery-powered engine and springs to propel the leg forward, uphill or over stairs, just as the human foot naturally gives a push from the toes. On Monday, the 24-year-old veteran paced on stage to demonstrate the PowerFoot, one of at least three such ankles in development.
"Once you get used to it, it feels like you have your leg back," Stewart said.
About the size of a boot, the PowerFoot was developed during a $7 million research effort run by the Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine, a collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University and the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Its researchers share a long-term goal of attaching a robotic limb directly onto human bone and controlling it with brain waves.
Created by Hugh Herr, a double amputee and MIT researcher, the PowerFoot appears to be the robotic ankle system closest to commercial production, said Thomas Sugar, a researcher at Arizona State University's Polytechnic Campus, who's developing a competing product.
Traditional prosthetic feet use springs to give an amputee some bounce, Herr said. Because they lack ankles, studies show amputees expend up to 30 percent more energy than the two-legged using their hips to power through strides. That can cause an irregular, hunched walk, pain and chronic back problems.
"By the end of the day, your lower back is pretty sore," Garth said. "This device pretty much eliminates that."
The PowerFoot also can add resistance, simulating an ankle's braking function.
Miniaturization proved one of the key obstacles. Unlike an arm, ankles are small but specialized joints capable of providing enormous power and withstanding a body's pressure.
"We have to package all the robot into a very small space," Herr said.
Using existing technology, Herr's team crammed a lithium-ion battery, gears, springs, nine sensors, joints and a tendon-like strip of carbon fiber into a package that can mostly fit into a shoe. The metal components sit on a carbon and rubber sole, almost like a silver foot in a black sandal.
The rechargeable battery provides enough energy for 10,000 steps, a rigorous day's walk.
Herr describes transitioning from his normal prothesis to the robotic ankle as similar to stepping onto a motorized walkway at an airport.
"It's like the hand of God pushing me," Herr said, "it's really cool."
Stewart has spent hours pacing in the PowerFoot and will participate in another clinical study this fall. iWalk, a Cambridge, Mass., startup company, has licensed MIT's patent and tentatively plans to produce a commercial test version of the PowerFoot by next summer, said John Stephens, the company's vice president of research and development.
Stephens said the PowerFoot will cost several thousand dollars, but the final price tag hasn't been set.
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On the Net:
iWalk: http://iwalkpro.com/ |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 24, 2007 - 01:36 AM
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Joined: Dec 12, 2005
Posts: 10561
Location: Never you mind where I'm at! You don't need to be knowing! Snoops!
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 Lovely article. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 24, 2007 - 01:43 AM
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Joined: Nov 17, 2002
Posts: 7598
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
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| angel wrote: | | Lovely article. |
The Robotics Lab is right across the street from my building too... |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 24, 2007 - 01:46 AM
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Member
Joined: Dec 12, 2005
Posts: 10561
Location: Never you mind where I'm at! You don't need to be knowing! Snoops!
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| CaptLogan wrote: | | angel wrote: | | Lovely article. |
The Robotics Lab is right across the street from my building too... |
That must be thrilling! Do you get to see the work? |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 24, 2007 - 01:54 AM
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Joined: Nov 17, 2002
Posts: 7598
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
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| angel wrote: | | CaptLogan wrote: | | angel wrote: | | Lovely article. |
The Robotics Lab is right across the street from my building too... |
That must be thrilling! Do you get to see the work? |
Very little. They keep themselves to themselves....  |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 24, 2007 - 01:56 AM
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Member
Joined: Dec 12, 2005
Posts: 10561
Location: Never you mind where I'm at! You don't need to be knowing! Snoops!
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| CaptLogan wrote: | | angel wrote: | | CaptLogan wrote: | | angel wrote: | | Lovely article. |
The Robotics Lab is right across the street from my building too... |
That must be thrilling! Do you get to see the work? |
Very little. They keep themselves to themselves.... |
Very understandable. Is it like patent espionage and just being disturbed by the public? It must be a very delicate process to put those gadgets together. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 24, 2007 - 01:56 AM
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Member
Joined: May 28, 2003
Posts: 3013
Location: ohhhh here and there
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| CaptLogan wrote: | | angel wrote: | | CaptLogan wrote: | | angel wrote: | | Lovely article. |
The Robotics Lab is right across the street from my building too... |
That must be thrilling! Do you get to see the work? |
Very little. They keep themselves to themselves.... |
I take it they don't let them out much?!   |
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~When Words Are Not Enough~
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 24, 2007 - 01:59 AM
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Member
Joined: Nov 17, 2002
Posts: 7598
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
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| Yep |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 24, 2007 - 02:05 AM
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Joined: Nov 12, 2004
Posts: 9205
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| Mr Stewart is fortunate to be able to use the technology at hand. More power to him. |
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