The Future Is Here Today...Robots, Genetics, AI, Longevity, Singularity

iWalk Presents World’s First Actively Powered Foot and Ankle

Comments

by Aaron Saenz on January 20th, 2010
iWalk prosthetic foot

iWalk's PowerFoot One is the world's first actively powered foot and ankle prosthetic.

Someday soon, amputees will have more powerful limbs than those with their natural bodies. iWalk, a prosthetics company formed in 2006, is gearing up to provide the world’s first actively powered foot and ankle this year. Called the PowerFoot One, the prosthetic limb uses springs and a half pound lithium ion battery to provide human-like power. It gives the same push off the ground as a human foot, and can adjust to slopes, walking up and down steps, or hanging casually when you lounge in a chair. The PowerFoot One can even be adjusted using a Bluetooth enabled phone and (according to an interview in Forbes) will soon have an associated iPhone App. Along with lower limb prosthetics from other companies, the PowerFoot One is set to give amputees an ease of movement that’s nearly natural. Give iWalk enough time, and they’re likely to make it better than human.

Read More

Guest Post: Top 10 Innovations at TEDMED

Comments

by Alexandra Carmichael on November 10th, 2009

This is a guest post written by Alexandra Carmichael. She is a co-founder of CureTogether, a Health 2.0 company that brings patients with hundreds of conditions together in overlapping data communities. Alexandra is currently an advisor on the Biotech/Medical Board of the Lifeboat Foundation, a guest blogger at The Quantified Self, and a prolific Tweeter on topics of health and chronic conditions @accarmichael.

I spent last week in San Diego for TEDMED, the medical version of the TED conference. It was an incredible experience for me, almost overwhelming at times with the quality and number of amazing people there. Singularity Hub wrote a preview of the event a few weeks ago.


I spent last week in San Diego for TEDMED, the medical version of the TED conference. It was an incredible experience for me, almost overwhelming at times with the quality and number of amazing people there.

Here are my top 10 takeaways:

.

1. Disability to Super-Ability – Mullins, Kamen, Angle

Three incredible stories, told back to back, left the audience in tears and on the edge of their seats.

mullins

Prosthetically augmented athlete Aimee Mullins gave a moving account of how being “disabled” has affected her life in a positive way. She reframed our thinking: “Adversity isn’t an obstacle to get around, it’s part of our life. We adapt.”

Dean Kamen spoke of his passion to build prosthetics for war veterans that are ultimately better than real limbs, imparting super-ability to the wearers.

iRobot co-founder Colin Angle continued the story of augmented reality by demonstrating how robots will become caregivers for elders like his mother. “In 2030, every person under 65 will be responsible for the care of a person over 65,” Colin said. “Can robots help with this?”

Saving lives, restoring functional living: these are inspiring applications of robotics and engineering. I highly recommend watching these three TEDMED talks when they are released.

. Read More

The Next Generation in Noninvasive Prosthetic Arms

Comments

by keith kleiner on July 30th, 2008

In this piece from the IEEE special report on prosthetics we learn about Deka’s amazing noninvasive prosthetic arm. As noted earlier, DARPA gave $30.4 million to fund two projects for the next generation of prosthetic arms, one noninvasive and the other invasive. Deka is pursuing the noninvasive project which does not require any surgical access to anything inside the body such as nerves, muscles, or neurons.

Deka’s next generation prosthetic arm, called the Luke Arm (named in homage to the prosthetic arm used by Luke Skywalker in Star Wars) has overcome many of the signficant problems with the outdated prosthetic arms that are currently available. About the state of current prosthetic arms:

“…after the initial shock of amputation wears off, usually within a year or two, patients stop wearing their prostheses. Even extreme levels of amputation don’t much curb this tendency. Wearing the burdensome prosthetic is simply not justified by the small amount of assistance it provides…”

This accompanying video summarizes the project and is well worth your time!

Dean Kamen’s Robotic “Luke” Arm