Earlier this year, Chicago resident Vernita Jefferson, 73, was fitted with one of the first microprocessor-controlled prosthetics, called the Triton smart ankle. Jefferson’s new ankle/foot, uses sensors and Bluetooth connectivity to sync with a mobile app so that she can control it from her smartphone. It also automatically adjusts to different terrains so that she doesn’t have to think about her next steps. Amazing!
In 2007, Jefferson was diagnosed with peripheral arterial disease, a condition that reduces blood flow to limbs. She subsequently faced surgery, and was fitted with a traditional prosthesis. She had trouble walking on different surfaces, putting on clothes, and faced extreme accessibility issues.
Sourced from DNA Info.
Unlike other prosthetics, the microprocessor-controlled prosthetic ankle allows Jefferson to adjust her heel height by simply touching a button on her smartphone. Since the Triton has embedded sensors and built-in Bluetooth connectivity, it is able to actually sync to a phone, offering real-time feedback and adjustments. Jefferson’s new foot has 34 degrees of motion – a wide range for a prosthetic. Hydraulic fluid inside the ankle helps control the movement. There is also a special sensor that is able to tell how fast or slow she is walking so that it can automatically adjust the ankle to the speed and type of surface she is on. The ankle adapts to the amount of force being placed on it. In the past, people would have to adjust manually, or they just avoided uneven surfaces.
Many advances are being made in prosthetics wear, such as the Symbionic Leg – an artificial knee, ankle and foot that are integrated into a single bionic limb. As such, the traditional half-measures (the stand-ins for lost limbs and senses), are now being imbued with machine intelligence. The Symbionic leg could essentially been tagged a robot, with sensors that detect its environment and gauge the wearer’s intentions, with processors that determine the angle of his or her carbon-fiber foot as it swings forward. Force sensors and accelerometers keep track of the leg’s position relative to the environment and the user. Onboard processors analyze this input at a rate of 1000 times per second, deciding how best to respond—when to release tension and when to maintain it. Since the leg knows where it is throughout each stride, it takes more than a stubbed toe to trigger a loose knee. If the prosthesis somehow misreads the situation, the manufacturer claims that the initial lurch of the user falling should activate its stumble-recovery mode. Like antilock brakes for the leg, the actuators will slow to a halt, and magnetically controlled fluid in the knee will become more viscous, creating resistance, as the entire system strains to keep the person from toppling.
Sourced from Canerdem.com
As we’ve shared in earlier postings, the same approach is being applied to prosthetic arms, in which complex algorithms determine how hard to grasp a water bottle or when to absorb the impact of a fall. Vision (and hearing)-based prostheses bypass faulty organs and receptors entirely, processing and translating raw sensor data into signals that the brain can interpret. These bionic systems actively adapt to their users, “restoring the body by serving it.”
Scientists have even created a smart prosthetic skin that’s stretchy and warm like real skin, and is jammed with tiny sensors that can pick up a variety of environmental cues such as heat, pressure and moisture. As described in Nature Communications, the smart skin is composed of an elastic, transparent silicone material that is designed to coat prosthetic limbs. This material is packed with sensors made of silicone nanoribbons in a snake-like shape that allows the delicate sensors to withstand more strain. These sensors generate an electrical feedback signal when stretched or squashed, and can also detect whether surfaces are hot or cold. The skin also features tiny capacitors that allow the material to detect humidity. Although it’s early days yet, this technology has the potential to ultimately transmit sensory information to the brains of amputees to allow them to ‘feel’ their prosthetic limbs.
Sourced from Technology Review.com
Scientists have 3D printed prosthetic arms, created artificial limbs that can be controlled by the user’s nerves or brain and even designed prosthetic skin that is self-healing or 1,000 times more sensitive than human skin.
Lots of stories and short videos to peruse at your leisure. They are guaranteed to amaze…
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/parking-note-tells-woman-prosthetic-113925553.html
http://www.iflscience.com/technology/smart-artificial-skin-could-give-prosthetic-limbs-feeling
Imagine… bionic limbs with machines intelligence that can sense their environment and predict a user’s intentions. Thanks to advances in material science, the materials themselves (especially the rare ones used in electronics, processors and different alloys), rare metals and a ton of ingenuity… If someone can imagine it, someone will ultimately make it a reality.
Until soon… Ian
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