Artificial Limb Transitions Between Prosthetics and Bionics

Although prosthetic limbs have been around for thousands of years and have undergone myriad transformations and refinements, modern-day prosthetics still have a variety of notable drawbacks. Prosthetic legs, for example, are often so heavy that their use exhausts amputees, making walking a burdensome and unpleasant exercise. Dedicated to restoring natural movement for lower-limb amputees and improving their quality of life, iWalk (Bedford, MA) has created a system that the company claims is the world&rsquo;s first proven bionic intervention that utilizes robotics to replicate the function of the missing calf muscle and Achilles tendon.

The field of prosthetics is an evolving one. What would once be a device that mainly relied on mechanical and material properties is now taking on electronic properties. And it&amp;#8217;s not surprising, with a trend of innovative technological advances and biomechanical and robotic research, we will see more advances towards incorporating and streamlining robotic features into prosthetics. Also, a very nice aspect of this article is how it looks into the design process of developing this kind of device; from concept, rapid prototyping, to manufacturing. For those of you guys interested in working in the industry, this will be a great article to see the overview of the design process as well.