prosthetic

Open Hand: Low Cost Robotic Hand

- Adam Clare

A funding campaign on IndieGoGo is focused on making an open-sourced robotic prosthetic hand. This is wonderful because the end product will be shared with everyone and the hand can be made essentially anywhere.

The Open Hand Project is open-source, which means all of the plans to make a robotic hand will be published online with no patents, anyone has the right to make their own and even sell it themselves. You’re funding the full development of the hand with the Open Hand Project, after that companies will be able to use the designs and sell the hands all over the world. This really helps get these devices out to developing countries and places where import taxes might otherwise increase the cost of distribution.

Contribute to their funding campaign!

New Ankle That Recycles Energy

- Adam Clare

Here’s a neat idea: a body part that uses itself to propel itself.

ankle

We developed a microprocessor-controlled artificial foot that captures some of the energy that is normally dissipated by the leg and “recycles” it as positive ankle work. In tests on subjects walking with an artificially-impaired ankle, a conventional prosthesis reduced ankle push-off work and increased net metabolic energy expenditure by 23% compared to normal walking. Energy recycling restored ankle push-off to normal and reduced the net metabolic energy penalty to 14%.

Link to Boing, link to original source.

Thanks Jeanette.

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