Austrian Researchers Create World’s First Prosthetic Leg With Real Sense of Feeling

The world’s first prosthetic leg with the ability of letting the wearer feel the ground beneath has been developed by researchers at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria.

The prosthetic leg has senses at the bottom of the soles that helps detect the pressure differences applied throughout the foot.

New Control System Maximizes the Benefits of the Powered Prosthetic Leg
The control system for powered prosthetic leg understands the intentions of the wearer and automatically adjusts its motions to fit with patients needs.

The researchers relocated a patients’ nerve endings closer to where the prosthesis connects, so that the nerve endings connect to stimulators located in the prosthetic leg. The stimulators are in turn connected to the six sensors on the sole of the foot.

When the sensors in the prosthetics push against the ground, the stimulation travels to the nerve endings and send messages to the patients’ brain, which gives the sense of feeling to the artificial leg.

The technology allows the wearer of the prosthetic leg to be able to walk, climb and do other things easily.

New Device Stimulates Nerves to Bring Sense of Touch to Prosthetic Hand
The device appears as a macro-sieve and works to stimulate motor neurons in muscles that transmits signals to the sensory neurons.

The researchers believe that the sense of touch makes the wearer safer and also helps alleviate phantom limb pain.

Source-Medindia

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