Prosthetic Limbs

Prosthesis is a term used for replacing a human body part which has been damaged or cut accidently with an artificial one. Hybrid prosthetic limb is a combination of mechanical and electrical circuit in which a controller gives command to electrically driven motor for the gripper opening and closing. Signal for the gripper opening or closing is acquired from the other shoulder movement. A strap on the shoulder is tied to a string which switches on or off the limit switch to give a trigger signal. This trigger signal actuates the motor in the gripper to perform open or close operation.

     Within the past few years, however, scientists have made many new advancements. The United States Food and Drug Administration has approved 2 electronic systems that regulate muscles by sending electrical signals through implanted wires, called functional electrical stimulation (FES). Some proteins have been found to promote nerve growth and restore limb function and sensation when administered directly into injured areas of rats. Another experiment with paralyzed rats found that when immature spinal cells from adult rats were induced to grow, then implanted in the gaps of the animals’ spinal cords, limited movement was produced. One very important discovery that has been made is that of a so-called ‘no-go’ gene which scientists say may block the regrowth of nerves.

With advancements in technology, amputees will be able to have legs that are equal to their non-amputee competitors. New materials such as thermal plastics and composites are being used in order to make the prosthetics lighter and stronger. Microprocessors are an integral part of the future of lower limb prosthesis. Joe McTernan, a member of the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association, explained, “With microprocessor technology, electrodes are placed over the socket of the limb and the patient is trained that when they flex certain muscles, it sends a signal to the motor to do a specific motion” (Alvarez 1). This allows the amputee to have more control over their limbs when sprinting. There are other ideas for advancement that have not been tested yet. Permanent prosthetic limbs would be ideal because the athlete would not have to worry about their legs detaching during a race. They also would not have to waste their time and money on multiple prosthetic legs. A stronger, durable, and permanent prosthetic leg would be a life-changing invention. New designs are being created in an effort to find the best prosthetic leg. The ‘c-shaped’ and ‘j-shaped’ legs seem to be the most successful, but future advancement may determine that a replica of the human foot works better. Scientists continue to work tirelessly in an effort to create equal opportunities for athletic amputees to be

For some amputees, there may be a physical and emotional pain with the lost of a limb. Bionics may not look and feel like a biological limb, but it comes close in providing the functions and fills the blank space of a missing limb. Providing individuals with bionic prosthetic technology assists in the reduction of health care cost by enabling an individual to maintain an appropriate activity level. Bionic limbs “enables people to return to work and other important daily activities faster and easier than before” ( Hixenbaugh, 2010, p. 721). With the use of bionics an amputee can walk with a natural gait and reduce the occurrence of stress on other joints ( Hixenbaugh, 2010, p. 725). This alleviates the chance of chronic or acute pain. An amputee can achieve a close to normal or normal metabolic energy exertion and reduced the amount of energy exerted from the amputee ( Hixenbaugh, 2010, p. 725). This may give the wearer the ability to withstand longer minor physical activities, such as walking for longer periods of time. Individals that wear BioM walk at 23% faster than the speed of wearing a traditional prosthetic ( Hixenbaugh, 2010, p. 725). This gives an amputee to walk at a natural speed. Through the use of external input bionics use, amputees gain the ability to safely walk on different terrains and stairs. Overall bionic prosthetics improve quality of life for amputee veterans as well as other individuals with

One of the solutions that Pro-sthetic Printers developed is a glove functioning as a prosthetic hand with a rechargeable source located in a “watch” compartment. There will be a number pad on the top of the hand, used to control the motions of the fingers. Each joint will have a number assigned to it, as seen in Figures 1 and 2. The numbers can be pressed in specific sequences to trigger specific types of motion along the joints and grips. The grip can then be released by pressing a cancel button on the number pad. Our idea is to make a new version of the Glove One, which is a robotic glove that has the capabilities of a basic cell phone. This model will have a shape similar to the Glove One model and will also have a similar range of motion. The prosthetic shall be able to slide over the users palm, like a glove, and will have hollow finger protrusions. The hollow finger protrusions allow for the user’s remaining anatomic fingers to work together with the prosthetic fingers. Our model will have five fingers that can be programmed based on the user’s needs. There will also be a velcro strap across the palm to ensure that the prosthetic model will not slip off. The fingers of our model will have different joints so that the user can have a wide range of motion. Our prosthetic model will be able to do more complex motions than just the whole hand grasp, as seen in Figures 3,4 and 5.

Modern prosthetic limbs have become very advanced in the last decade. They now have the ability to grip objects, have running limbs, and many more wonderful things. Although these prosthetics are great, they are lacking some key extras that amputees would relish. What amputees really want is their sense of feeling back. They want to reach out with their prosthetic limb and be able to tell if the stove is on or off. They want to be able to press the gas of an automobile. This sense, that all non-amputees take for granted, would be a great place to start the improvement of the perfect prosthetic limb. To accomplish such a daunting task, engineers must figure out an alternative source that could interact with the amputees still intact nerve endings. This way they can use their still functioning nerves to communicate with their pseudo-nerve and have the ability to move their prosthesis around with complete control of it and its sense of touch. I believe this has not

The advancements of some fields of medicine and technology can be controversial, but the progress made to prosthetic technology has made the lives of amputees easier and made them feel more like themselves again. Amputees can greatly benefit from these prosthetics no matter their situation or physical needs, meaning that the large population of amputees in the world can work towards regaining their normal life. Something many amputees pine for is the sense of feeling, especially in their hands and arms. A solution to this problem has become more clear as scientists work to reroute sensations from the prosthetic to nerves as stated in an article by Stephen Mraz, senior editor of Penton Media, “Technology Adds the Sense of Touch to Prosthetic

Just like a dexterous robotic hand that can grab objects by controlling individual fingers, this project has grabbed my attention. One of the reasons why I am so interested in your project is because of my desire to build prosthetics. Even though I have very little research experience, I have a strong desire to work for this project to learn more about biomechanics ranging from understanding the biology behind it, ranging from neuronal signals and muscle contractions, to actually understanding how we can design mechanical parts to perform the daily tasks in life such as lifting heavy objects and even writing.

Amputees have new technology to make their lives easier. With new discoveries in science, we are able to help people that have had a hand amputated or and arm. When an arm or hand is amputated there are nerves that will continue to tell you that you have pain even when there is not arm or leg there. This is called phantom pain.

In addition to outlining a design methodology, it is also important to establish the criteria to assess the ‘bearability’ of the prosthesis. For this study, a bearable prosthesis is defined as the successful coupling between a patient and their device, allowing the user to wear it continuously over a prolonged period of time, projected to be 3-5 years until it requires replacement. Once the prosthetic device and the body have formed a successful coupling, which in turn affects the users’ cognitive process, creating a new form of behavior where the mind forms a seamless connection to the prosthesis. The more the user is unaware of the device and feels a sense of control over it, the more comfortable the user feels. To assess the outcome of the relationship formed, a

Currently, in the U.S., there are nearly 2 million people living with limb loss (Ziegler‐Graham, MacKenzie, Ephraim, Travison, Brookmeyer, 2008). After undergoing surgery, there are two basic options of prosthetics that amputees can choose from: non-microprocessor prosthetics and microprocessor prosthetics. Non-microprocessor prosthetics are solely mechanical in function whereas microprocessor prosthetics use computer technology to sense when to apply resistance to improve the stability of the patient’s gait (Morrison & Topping, 2012). Stability and functionality of the prosthetic is especially important in regaining previous mobility abilities for people with lower limb loss. However, many private insurance companies decline coverage of microprocessor

Take a second, and imagine your life as a teenager, fresh out of college with, aspiring to get a degree in whatever your heart desires. You’ve got lots of ambition and potential. The world is at your fingertips; you can do anything you set your mind to. But one day, tragedy strikes and the unthinkable happens: you lose a limb. Why is not important, but what the future entails is. Let’s say this limb is your right arm, the one you have used all your life to write, eat, type and play the guitar. Now let’s change the scenario a little bit. Instead you’ve lost your legs in a horrific car accident where both were crushed under the weight of the dashboard as your car collided with the 4x4 in front of you. You wake up the next day in the hospital groggy, barely remembering what happened. Shock is the only thing running through your mind the moment you look down to see your legs missing. Your brain thinks they’re still there because yesterday you were just getting out of bed for your morning jog. All that remains are the stubs where your legs used to be and the unbearable thought of being confined to a motorized chair for the rest of your life.

You start off weak, out of shape, clumsy, in shock, and with only a high school level intelligence. (Male or Female) Struggling to find safety with a dozen other individuals, you stumble upon a old Lab. This Lab contains a main station (where the entrance is located), a single Lab, Food Bay/cafeteria, Bathroom, Library and Gym. The Main Station and Food Bay need to be guarded at all times, these are the rooms that contain vents, windows and the Main Station holds the front door. These need to be barricaded(always) or the threat of zombies will take over your encampment. To find supplies to barricade these openings you will use the wood and extra pieces found around the lab, but you are slowly running low. The Encampment

My recent research interest in prosthetics came from my idea to make a robotic arm for my final physics and design project. By the act of “just doing” and continuing to work on the arm, I discovered a practical application in the form of a robotic prosthetic.

In other work on creating a natural environment, Basdogan et al. [?] find that haptic technology can be used to simulate realistic surgery tool-tissue interactions including organ-force responses. Bara and Gentaz [?] show that children using both visual and haptic sensory channels in letter recognition and handwriting training have higher improvement in performance than using only the visual sensory channel. Although this and other research shows the benefit of utilizing haptic feedback in different areas, more research is needed to explore how haptically enhanced touchscreens can help users with touch based interactions.