This bionic leg lets amputees walk naturally
Vanderbilt University’s new bionic leg lets amputees walk without limping along like Kaiser Söze. Unlike the average peg-leg, the Vanderbilt leg has motors in the knee and ankle to actively move like the real thing. Sensors and microprocessors predict what the user is about to do and the leg moves accordingly.
An amputee can walk around 25 percent faster on the Vanderbilt leg, mostly because it takes a lot less of his energy to do it. The leg itself is also pretty light on power, running for up to three days (or 14 kilometers) on a single charge. The motors are still noisy, though — despite being a lot quieter than previous incarnations, the current version “is sightly louder than [the researchers] would like.” It’s not all bad: with the whiny motor sounds you’ll sound just like Robocop when you walk.
New ‘bionic’ leg gives amputees a natural gait [Vanderbilt University via Physorg and the Giz]
See Also:
- Bionic Eye Attempts to Restore Vision
- Bionic Cat Walks on Prosthetic Legs
- Gallery: Bionic Arms Gain Power, Dexterity, Sensitivity
- New Bionic Arms Are Strong, Sensitive, Human-Friendly
- Bionic Fingers Give Amputees New Dexterity
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