Prosthetics

Researchers created an energy-efficient electric motor actuator, using springs and clutches to slash energy use in dynamic tasks, offering up to 97% efficiency improvement and potential applications in robotics and assistive devices. Energy-recycling actuator prototype. Credit: Erez KrimskyResearchers at Stanford have developed a spring-assisted actuator, a device that can accomplish dynamic tasks using a fraction of the energy previously required.Whether it’s a powered prosthesis to assist a person who has lost a limb or…

Restoring natural sensory feedback results in functional and cognitive benefits for leg prosthesis users. Credit: Pietro ComaschiA few years ago, a team of researchers working under Professor Stanisa Raspopovic at the ETH Zurich Neuroengineering Lab gained worldwide attention when they announced that their prosthetic legs had enabled amputees to feel sensations from this artificial body part for the first time. Unlike commercial leg prostheses, which simply provide amputees with stability and support, the ETH researchers’…

Machine learning significantly advances neural prostheses by optimizing image downsampling, closely replicating natural retinal responses, and opening new avenues for sensory encoding in prosthetics. Credit: SciTechDaily.comEPFL researchers have developed a machine learning approach to compressing image data with greater accuracy than learning-free computation methods, with applications for retinal implants and other sensory prostheses.A major challenge to developing better neural prostheses is sensory encoding:…

A team from Duke University has created a speech prosthetic that translates brain signals into speech, aiding individuals with neurological disorders. While still slower than natural speech, the technology, backed by advanced brain sensors and ongoing research, shows promising potential for enhanced communication abilities. (Artist’s concept) Credit: SciTechDaily.comA prosthetic device deciphers signals from the brain’s speech center to predict what sound a person is trying to say.A team of neuroscientists, neurosurgeons,…

University of Pittsburgh scientists have developed a spinal cord stimulation technique that restores sensation in amputated limbs and reduces phantom limb pain, offering new hope for improved mobility and quality of life for amputees. Credit: SciTechDaily.com Spinal cord stimulation by University of Pittsburgh researchers effectively reduces phantom limb pain and restores sensation in amputees, marking a significant advance in prosthetic technology. Spinal cord stimulation can elicit sensation in the missing foot and…

Crack open just about any textbook dealing with medicine or science, and you'll see a lot of the same when it comes to the human anatomy illustrations: often white male bodies, usually very physically fit, absent tattoos, piercings or prosthetics. A duo of professors working in kinesiology and anatomy — including one from the University of Windsor — is hoping to change that by creating a new series of anatomy images. "The standard images that you see in textbooks don't really show the racial diversity that … I see, when I…

Researchers at the Zurich-based ETH public university, along with a US-based startup called Inkbit, have done the impossible. They’ve printed a robot hand complete with bones, ligaments and tendons for the very first time, representing a major leap forward in 3D printing technology. It’s worth noting that the various parts of the hand were printed simultaneously, and not cobbled together after the fact, as indicated in a research journal published in Nature. Each of the robotic hand’s various parts were made from…

Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain implant company, is facing a new roadblock on its extremely ambitious avowed quest to cure blindness and paralysis. The Food and Drug Administration has shot down Neuralink’s application to proceed to human trials with its device, according to a Thursday report from Reuters, attributed to seven current and former FDA employees.For years, Musk has repeatedly claimed that human trials for his brain computer interface are right around the corner. In 2019, Musk said his company was angling for FDA…

Photo via Marvel Stuios Marvel Studios will likely be conducting a lengthy postmortem on Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The movie is currently sitting at a miserable 48 percent on the Tomatometer and is experiencing a huge box office drop-off, leading many to wonder for the first time in years whether all’s well behind the scenes at the studio. Quantumania‘s problems are manyfold, but would it have been better if they’d included a Ninja Turtle-style giant ant voiced by Werner Herzog? Yes, yes it would. This…

Design has operated this way in the world for a very long time. It still mostly does. While it is true, observes architect and designer Nicholas de Monchaux in his introduction to this issue, that design has accomplished much good in the world, “it has also shared responsibility for bringing us into our current ecological crisis; every new thing is perhaps not much better than the old thing.” Of course, we try to make new things that are better than what came before. But even big shifts are complicated. Take electric…