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In the last two decades, prosthetic limb technology has grown by leaps and bounds. Today, the most advanced prostheses incorporate microprocessors that work with onboard gyroscopes, accelerometers, and hydraulics to enable a person to walk with a normal gait. Such top-of-the-line prosthetics can cost more than $50,000.
Now, a team of researchers is aiming to develop a passive, low-tech prosthetic knee that performs nearly as well as high-end prosthetics, at a fraction of the cost. The team has calculated the ideal torque that a prosthetic knee should produce, given the mass of the leg segments, in order to induce able-bodied kinematics, or normal walking. The group has built a prototype of a prosthetic knee that generates a torque profile similar to that of able-bodied knees using only simple mechanical elements like springs and dampers. The team is testing the prototype in India, where about 230,000 above-knee amputees currently live.Image credit: Illustration courtesy of Amos Winter, Murthy Arlekatti et al.
