semi OT: cool article/research at UM
http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=7531
Being the nerd I am, I came across this and thought it was incredibly interesting. Semi OT b/c it has to do with UM but not sports.
I don't know much about this subject, but it seems like not having an external power source would be an improved convenience for amputees. If anyone on this board been part of this research or knows more about it I'd love to learn more.
February 18th, 2010 at 7:33 PM ^
It sounds kind of like a Hybrid's brakes. That's pretty awesome.
February 18th, 2010 at 7:43 PM ^
This type of technology had to come at some point. The self propelled prosthetic, to curtail the energy usage by the amputee and mimic the energy usage of an able bodied person. Very cool stuff, glad to see the U is on top of the field for this.
February 18th, 2010 at 7:48 PM ^
to the warrior face. If you know what I mean.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:48 PM ^
This seems like it ends poorly with Sarah Connor freaking out and making audio tapes for her unborn kid.
February 19th, 2010 at 12:16 PM ^
By your command.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:54 PM ^
It will be interesting to see how they can sort of cover it up or make it more aesthetically please. I also wonder how big it is. It seems like it could be huge, but with technology today I imagine it's probably the size of an actual foot.
February 18th, 2010 at 9:13 PM ^
I read about this sometime back, except when I read about it, it was a random leg amputee who got tired of walking without an achillies tendon. He machined an aluminum foot with a hinge, wrapped a steel cable taught around it, and got the same 'bounce in his step' as anyone with a real foot has.
I guess this is version 2.0?
February 18th, 2010 at 9:30 PM ^
One thing that is missing, but should be easy to incorporate, is the small flexibility along the x-axis (if you imagine the toes and heel along the y.) Probably wouldn't need such a dynamic foot for every amputee out there, since they have levels of feet for the amount of activity a patient is expected to perform. Cannot tell the dimensions of everything but it looks like it could fit in some of the standard feet.
February 20th, 2010 at 2:03 AM ^
I work with a number of amputees and the prosthetists who make the legs typically use product by Otto Bock out of Germany. My concern with this type of product would relate to the reliability for heavy daily users but I imagine this should be covered in the research. I will be interested to follow this up in my clinical work.