Prosthetics

Fifty-year-old Brit Trevor Prideaux is an ordinary man with an extraordinary idea that could make it easier for others who are missing limbs to use smartphones--embed a phone dock right into your prosthetic.

It's worked for him.

The catering manager from Somerset, England, who was born without a left forearm, came up with the idea to integrate a smartphone into his prosthetic after using an iPhone.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Prideaux admits "...it became clear that this piece of technology was not ideally suited to be used with only one hand. When testing an iPhone, with the thoughts of purchase, I had to balance it on my prosthetic limb to text." … Read more

Researchers at Stanford are developing new sensors so flexible and pressure-sensitive that they could be used to make touch-sensitive prosthetic limbs, pressure-sensitive badges, and more.

By incorporating a transparent film of carbon nano-springs, the sensor "can register pressure ranging from a firm pinch between your thumb and forefinger to twice the pressure exerted by an elephant standing on one foot," says postdoctoral researcher Darren Lipomi, co-author of a paper published October 23 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. "None of it causes any permanent deformation."

The team built those nano-springs by airbrushing nanotubes (which are in liquid … Read more

As scientists unveil artificial organs and prosthetics to improve the function of our hearts, kidneys, hands, and even eyes, it's easy to gloss over these devices' Achilles' heel: power.

Even building devices that run on very low power, such as pacemakers, tend to require additional invasive surgeries just to replace their batteries. Meanwhile, artificial limbs can be huge energy hogs, with the power source needing to be swapped out as frequently as every few weeks. Impractical is an understatement.

Biofuel cells could very well solve this problem. Researchers around the world are investigating how to use a body's own energy to power various devices, and one team out of France last year successfully implanted in a rat a biofuel cell that uses glucose and oxygen to generate electricity.… Read more

Every once in a while a hilarious idea is actually well executed. Mommy Tummy 8.0 out of the Kanagawa Institute of Technology in Japan is looking to be one of those.

The idea is that a pregnancy simulator might help a dude (or a lady who has yet to experience the joys of pregnancy) better empathize with pregnant women.

Even setting aside the obvious issue that the simulator wearer is not experiencing hormonal changes, and that he can take the simulator off at any point (oh, the freedom), there is something downright bizarre about a man who appears to be pregnant. (See video below.)

Get past the oddity and the Mommy Tummy 8.0 is actually an impressive little (and then rather suddenly big) gadget. It comprises a water bag, touch sensor, acceleration sensor, and fetal air actuator to simulate the growth, weight, and even movement of a fetus.… Read more

In the future, we'll all have cyborg bodies with replaceable parts, right? The transition to immortality, though, may take some getting used to. Touch Bionics has a handy new tool to help us practice.

The Scottish maker of the i-Limb Pulse bionic hand is showing off its new Virtu-limb, a tool it describes as "a groundbreaking simulation and training product for myoelectric upper limb prostheses." … Read more

A passive prosthetic leg, says 23-year-old amputee Craig Hutto, is always a step behind. But a new leg built by researchers at Vanderbilt University "is only a split-second behind."

Hutto, who is 6 feet 4 inches, has been testing the bionic leg for a good chunk of the seven-year research project at the school's Center for Intelligent Mechatronics. (Check out his crazy story about how a shark nearly tore off his leg when he was fishing in Florida at age 16.)

What sets the Vanderbilt leg apart from its predecessors is its use of recent advances in computer, sensor, electric motor, and battery tech to enable the prosthetic to be the first ever that powers knee and ankle joints in unison.

"We have validated our hypothesis that the right technology was available to make a lower-limb prosthetic with powered knee and ankle joints," says research head Michael Goldfarb, a professor of mechanical engineering, in a news release. "Our device illustrates the progress we are making in integrating man and machine."

The device weighs in at 9 pounds, which is actually less than most human lower legs. On one charge, it can operate at normal levels of activity for roughly three days. And it features an "anti-stumble" routine; if the leg senses that its user is starting to stumble, the leg lifts to avoid obstruction and plants on the floor to optimize balance.… Read more

What do you do if you want to upgrade your pathetic meatsack of a body and become a cyborg? If you're Matthew James, a 14-year-old from Britain's Berkshire, you write a letter and end up with a bionic hand.

Born without a left hand, James became enamored of the i-Limb Pulse from Scotland's Touch Bionics, but his family couldn't afford the roughly $48,000 price tag.

After the head of Formula One racing team Mercedes GP Petronas visited his school, James got up the chutzpah to write a letter to the organization's Ross Brawn asking for help in getting an i-Limb Pulse. He suggested the team sponsor what would be a cybernetic part of his body.

Brawn agreed to help, but struck a technology-sharing deal with Touch Bionics in which most of the fee would be waived. Now James has a new hand. … Read more

What if, instead of waiting a few weeks for your dentist to produce a cast for dental implants or replacement crowns, your jaw was scanned and, during that same dentist's visit, you were able to pull a perfect polymer shape out of a 3D printer and be on your merry way?

Mechanical engineers in Iran report in the International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing that printing our own teeth may not be so far off into the future.

While the process could be prohibitively expensive for years to come, it turns out that 3D printing, coupled with the comparatively affordable cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), may ultimately revolutionize prosthetic dentistry.

The tech, called rapid prototyping, uses a 3D image to control a laser that cures powdered or liquid polymer into highly complex shapes. In fact, Hossein Kheirollahi of the Imam Hossein University and Farid Abbaszadeh of the Islamic Azad University say this technology can produce just about any solid, porous, or complicated shape.

While the Iranian team has been able to demonstrate the use of rapid prototyping in developing dental objects quickly, we're likely at least a few years out from actual commercial development.

Below, watch tool replication via 3D printing:… Read more

More lifelike, functional prosthetics for lost fingers may soon be more readily available as mechanical digits known as X Fingers are set to be mass-produced within six months, according to inventor Dan Didrick.

X Fingers are fashioned out of surgical steel and bend naturally with the movement of residual fingers. They're simple, lightweight, body-powered, and don't require any electronics or electricity.

The removable devices can be covered in thermoplastic for a lifelike appearance. Depending on the configuration they're sometimes anchored in a wrist strap.

Florida-based Didrick was motivated in part by a desire to help a hearing-impaired person regain sign language ability after losing fingers. He whittled his first concept prototype out of pine wood.

Then he began using 3D design software to refine his invention. Eight years after initial sketches, hundreds of X Fingers are in use today, and Didrick Medical has also produced X Thumbs.

There seems to be a big demand for these simple devices. Citing U.S. Bureau of Labor data, the company says about 8,000 work-related amputations occur each year involving one or more fingers. … Read more