Communications of the ACM
An Open Source Bionic Leg
Researchers at the University of Michigan have released details online of the design and clinical tests of an open source bionic leg.
Credit: ?Joseph Xu/Michigan Engineering.
University of Michigan researchers have released details online of the design and clinical tests of an open source bionic leg, to encourage scientists to create and test new prosthetics.
The Open Source Leg includes free-to-copy step-by-step guides to help researchers build or order parts for the artificial limb, as well as videos on assembling and testing the hardware; also available is code for programming the leg to walk using a preliminary control system.
The Leg’s knee and ankle joints can operate independently, enabling research on patients with above-knee and below-knee amputation.
Each joint also has onboard batteries and individual sensing and control systems, to enable testing outside the laboratory.
The Leg boasts lightweight, brushless electric motors developed for drones that add torque, allowing users to walk with less fatigue.
From IEEE Spectrum
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Abstracts Copyright © 2020 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA
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