Hasta La Gadget!

A poor calf was literally left out in the cold this winter and suffered frostbite to both of its hind legs. The frostbite was so severe that the calf lost both the back legs to surgical amputation. A person stepped up and adopted the calf rather than see the animal put down and turned into steak.

Rather than having a calf that lay around all the time, the new owner of the animal spent about $40,000 to have a pair of prosthetic legs made for it. To attach the legs to the calf, bovine surgeons had to remove a couple inches of bone to make a tissue pad.

The hooves of the legs are made from titanium and urethane. The connecting hardware is made from titanium and carbon fiber, and it has taken surgeons at Texas A&M University about a year to develop the prosthetics.

[via Independent]

We have seen our fair share of prosthetic hands in the past, where they do offer a glimmer of hope to those who are missing a limb or two to live a somewhat more empowered life. The thing is, prosthetic hands will more often than not lack the sense of touch, which I am quite sure is not what Anakin Skywalker’s prosthetic hand is lacking in the Star Wars movies. The lack of touch would then make it nigh impossible to tell whether one should apply more or less force when holding or manipulating an object. Take the humble egg for instance – squeezing it hard enough would crack the shell, while not holding it hard enough, and it will slip right out of the prosthetic hand. Researchers at the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University has come up with a new prosthetic hand tht has 20 embedded sensors which will be hooked up straight to the nerve bundles that are located in the user’s arm.

This method would then enable the user to pick up a sense of feeling, which comes in handy when it comes to handling items and everyday objects. This model is diffeent to other electrical stimulus methods of the past which will indirectly trigger the nerve impulses, as it approaches the matter by directly stimulating the same nerve endings which would be called into action back when everything was normal. It does seem to deliver a permanent effect without losing any form of effectiveness after a short while.

Artificial Hand Lets You “Feel” original content from Ubergizmo.

Somehow when you take inflation into consideration, the six million dollar man does not sound so hot anymore – if you were to give him the moniker of the six billion dollar man, now that is another thing to consider altogether. Still, the idea of having enhanced body parts, such as a bionic eye is definitely enticing, especially when that bionic eye of yours is capable of doing so much more than what a normal human eye can. Still, that remains in the realm of science fiction at this moment, while something more realistic would be a bionic arm being affixed to a volunteer. Well, would you consider Murr-ma instead?

Murr-ma happens to be an amphibious prosthetic device which is said to empower the wearer to gain the potential ability to swim faster compared to an ordinary human without any prosthetic limbs. Specially developed by a team of students from the University of Technology Sydney, the Royal College of Art, and Imperial College London, Murr-Ma lets the wearer to switch activities in a jiffy – from running on the beach to swimming at full speed, and this is made possible thanks to the carbon fiber ribs which will flex so that the swimmer has some additional thrust in the water. Right now, Murr-ma remains as a prototype, and there are no plans to commercialize it just yet.

Murr-Ma Amphibious Prosthetic Helps You Swim Faster original content from Ubergizmo.

Dogs have long been touted as being man’s best friend. Aside from companionship, dogs can save human lives, depending on their training, by sniffing out bombs, transporting medicine (remember Balto?), and helping the blind ‘see.’ Given all the joy and help that dogs give humans, it’s only fitting that humans give back to them as well.

Take the case of Naki’o, an adorable dog that lost all four paws to frostbite when abandoned as a puppy.

Image Credit: Rick Wilking/Reuters

He did fine as a pup, but began having difficulty supporting his weight as he grew bigger. So his loving owner, Christie Pace, searched for alternatives to help Naki’o out. She explained: “I have a soft spot for rescue animals in general. I was looking for something different, unique. I wanted to make more of a difference than a regular dog. I knew I could help him out.”

Pace set up a fundraiser to get prosthetics for Naki’o from OrthoPets. But when the animal hospital saw how well the pup did with his initial fittings, they set him up with a complete set of prosthetics, free of charge.

Image Credit: Rick Wilking/Reuters

I guess you could say they have a heart of gold. Oh, and a little bit of trivia: Naki’o is the world’s first ever dog to be outfitted with custom prosthetics on all four legs!

[via The Star via Metro News via Dvice]

Ever wanted a robotic hand? Well unless you’re a Terminator, or this guy, you probably don’t have one. Well, thanks to 3D printing, and the wonders of Kickstarter, you can soon own your own robot hand without breaking the bank.

Initially developed under the Anthromod project we mentioned last year, Christopher Chappell and Easton LaChapelle’s robot hand is now available for order via a Kickstarter campaign. The humanoid hand is designed to offer six degrees-of-freedom, including full movement of the thumb, four fingers and wrist. The arm is controlled using tendons, which are moved using five servos. The current design uses ABS plastic, but they are hopeful that future iterations will be produced using nylon, which is biocompatible, and safer for use in prostheses.

They’re targeting a sub-$1000 (USD) pricepoint for a completely functional robotic arm, significantly less than robotic arms being sold for medical and research purposes today. During the Kickstarter campaign (which runs through 5am EDT on 4/10/13) you can get a kit with complete electronics for the forearm, hand and fingers for £270 (~$411 USD). For £300 (~$467 USD), you can get a fully-assembled version, and for £600 (~$914 USD), you can upgrade to a version with a wireless control glove.