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Dec 0107

Inventions 2007 – ‘Bionic’ Prosthetic Ankle

Jonathon

Joint Venture

Robot Leg Inventors Inventions Best of the Rest 2007

Webb Chappell

Foot-ankle prostheses can be tiring to wear and produce an awkward, ungainly stride, but the PowerFoot One is the first with battery-powered springs that propel the wearer forward and create a more natural gait. Its built-in microprocessors and environmental sensors enable it to negotiate slopes, stairs and level ground with ease. Invented by Hugh Herr, a double amputee and MIT professor, the PowerFoot also recaptures the energy produced with each step. Available Summer 2008 iwalkpro.com/products

I also found this invention which has been around since the mid-90s:

Ultra-Mobile Wheelchairs that [Levitate]

The IBOT mobility system was developed after Kamen watched a man in a conventional wheelchair trying to get over a curb in the late-1980s. Kamen looked at the problem and saw that there were current technologies that could solve it. It took about $50 million worth of investment and nearly eight years of development, but the resultant design can climb stairs, go off-road, and “stand” perfectly balanced on two of its six wheels so that its user can communicate eye-to-eye with a standing person. The IBOT is now marketed by a division of Johnson & Johnson … and costs about $20,000, which many insurance companies and private foundations find easy to support for the additional value the design provides.

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