REAL became real!

The lab is finally set up and ready to roll!

Our lab space is 1060 sq. ft. space is fully dedicated to research data collection and analyses. There is a 30 ft. overground walkways for three force plate measurement (AMTI, Watertown, MA) and video tracking with a 12-camera Vero22 digital motion analysis systems (Vicon, Oxford, UK), for collecting kinematic and analog data, a Tandem instrumented treadmill (AMTI, Watertown, MA), a 16-channel wireless electromyography system (Delsys Inc., Boston, MA), and an ultrasound system (Logicscan128, Telemed, IT). A cage-type harness system (Glidetrak., Ashland, OR) to prevent subjects from falling while walking on the treadmill or overground. The lab also has a fuse deposition type 3D printer (Raise3D, Irvine, CA).

1st award at Southern Biomechanics Engineering Conference (SBEC), New Orleans

Congratulation! Gabriel received the 1st award (Subrata Saha Outstanding Award) at Southern Biomechanics Engineering Conference with his prosthetic timing module presentation.

We’ll Push You

We are currently developing an ankle prosthetic adjustable timing module (APATM) that enables individuals with lower limb amputation to walk energetically efficiently by translating the stored energy of the carbon fiber foot into propulsive force. The key benefits of APATM are:

Individuals with transtibial amputation can have greater propulsion with their existing passive ankle prostheses.
APATM can easily be installed to the existing passive ankle prostheses without any modification.
APATM is compatible with almost any type of passive ankle prostheses.
APATM requires low battery power to control the passive ankle prostheses.
APATM has a minimal size, allowing the passive ankle prostheses to remain aesthetically representative of native lower limb.
APATM aligns with the longitudinal mass centerline of the shank and maintains weight balance of the prostheses.
Individuals with transtibial amputation can choose the energy release timing either from the optimized algorithm or by manual selection.

U. S. Patent 62/881,648: “Method and apparatus for enhancing operation of leg prosthesis”, August 1, 2019.

Cranking Up the Power Setting May Help Some Who Use Prosthetics

Amputees who use powered prosthetic ankles may be able to avoid the energetic costs typically associated with prosthetics by cranking up the power provided by their devices.

A UCF engineering professor recently published a study in Scientific Reports that shows that people with transtibial amputations—the loss of a limb below the knee—may improve their walking ability if they change the power-setting on their devices. Hwan Choi, who received his doctorate in engineering from the University of Washington, is an assistant professor in the UCF department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

According to a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health, approximately 185,000 amputations occur in the United States every year and 49-95% of lower-limb amputees reportedly use a prosthesis. Most of those on the market are passive prosthetics. On average, amputees spend up to 30% more energy than unimpaired individuals when performing tasks such as walking. This could be due to the fact that most ankle prostheses are passive-elastic, meaning that they can store and release energy when they come in contact with the ground but are unable to perform positive net ankle work that allows for muscle shortening contractions to occur. In fact, these prostheses are only able to provide one eighth of the power of the intact gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, the key muscles that support and propel the body during walking.

As passive prostheses increase the energetic demand on the user, individuals may have to compensate by increasing muscular effort in the residual or intact limb. Powered ankle prostheses, on the other hand, use actuators to reduce the increased metabolic costs placed on amputees by delivering positive work. BiOM (now known as EMPOWER), the only commercially available powered ankle prosthetic, uses a visual display that allows the wearer to tune the power setting on the device. Ideally, they would select a power setting between 0% and 100% that best approximates that of a healthy ankle at the user’s preferred walking speed. But the question remains: how much power should the prosthesis provide?