Another promising medgadget spotlighted in MIT’s Technology Review is a new generation of prosthetics with sensors. One of the scientists involved is MIT’s Hugh Herr:
Some of the latest prosthetic knees on the market already have microprocessors built into them that can be programmed to help the limbs move more naturally. But Herr has taken this idea one step further. He has developed a knee with built-in sensors that can measure how far the knee is bent, as well as the amount of force the user applies to it while walking. This artificial knee–recently commercialized by the Icelandic company Ossur–also contains a computer chip that analyzes the sensor data to create a model of the user’s gait, and adapt the movement and resistance of the knee accordingly…
…Now Herr is working to distribute those sensors beyond the knee joint, using them to detect not just the mechanical forces of the body but also neural signals from the muscles near the joint. This work is part of an emerging discipline called biomechatronics, in which researchers are building robotic prostheses that can communicate with users’ nervous systems. In five to seven years, predicts Herr, spinal-cord injury patients will move their limbs again by controlling robotic exoskeletons strapped onto them (or at least they will in research settings).
We’ve blogged before about the high expectations on these new prostheses. But Herr has a personal stake in making it happen: he’s a double-amputee, and looks forward to being among the first test subjects for his prosthetic device.
More at Ossur…