Image Caption: An early version of the lower limb prosthetic designed by the Center for Intelligent Mechatronics. Credit: John Russell / Vanderbilt
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online
More naturally moving prosthetic legs currently in development will dramatically boost the mobility of lower-limb amputees and allow them to effectively navigate stairs, slopes and uneven ground, according to a recent perspective article in the journal Science Translational Medicine from Michael Goldfarb, a mechanical engineering professor at Vanderbilt University.
Over the last decade, Goldfarb and his team have been conducting research in lower-limb prosthetics, resulting in the development of the first robotic prosthesis. With both powered knee and ankle joints, the prosthesis became the first man-made prosthetic leg controlled by thought when scientists at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago developed a neural interface for it.
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