Download O&P News - Dr Magrann

O&P News
Artificial Eye Brings Vision
To Blind
 A Saint Louis University neurosurgeon
has become the first U.S. doctor to
implant a potentially revolutionary
electronic eye device that allows a blind
patient to see. He is the only United
States doctor ever to perform the
procedure.
 The procedure costs $98,000.
Artificial Eye
 Patients are implanted with devices that act as
artificial eyes by stimulating the visual cortex of
the brain.
 Two patients, who had been totally blind before
their surgeries have already learned to use the
prosthetic system well enough to slowly drive
cars on private property. They could walk freely
around a laboratory, avoid obstacles and look
outside a window to see a tree.
Artificial Eye for a Horse
 KBuck's prosthetic eye was
handcrafted by designers at La
Fuente Ocular Prosthetics in
Oklahoma City.
 The eye was fashioned with a
mold of KBuck's hollow eye
socket and constructed with
hard acrylic plastic, said
Brandon La Fuente. It was
hand-painted to look exactly
like the horse's real eye,
complete with deep blue
features and tiny red veins.
 KBuck's eye cost about $3,000
Artificial Knee for Landmine Victims
 In a unique arrangement, technologies for
foot and knee prostheses are being jointly
developed by two nuclear weapons
laboratories in Russia and the US.
 Someone in this world loses a limb to a
landmine explosion every 20 minutes.
Artificial Knee
 A knee must be able to vary the speed of its
response. Then it needs to lock so that its
wearer doesn't fall when standing. "The
knee is not simply a hinge," says
Lieberman. "If it were only that, it might
swing back too far or not enough, letting the
foot hit the ground too soon and causing its
wearer to trip."
Artificial Knee
 The prosthetic has a socket able to adjust to
the swelling and shrinkage of an amputee's
stump during the course of the day, knees
that help prevent falling when a wearer
stumbles, and microprocessor-controlled
prosthetics to obtain a more natural gait.
World’s earliest functional
prosthetic


An artificial big toe attached to the foot of an
ancient Egyptian mummy could prove to be
the world's earliest functional prosthetic body
part, say scientists.
If true, the toe will predate what is currently
considered to be the earliest known practical
prosthesis - an artificial leg from 300BC - by
several hundred years.
Artificial big toe: 1000 BC
Artificial big toe: 1000 BC


It is articulated and shows signs of wear. It is
still attached to the foot of the mummy of a
female between 50 and 60 years of age. The
amputation site is also well healed.“
It is made from cartonnage, a sort of papier
maché made using linen, glue and plaster.
Oldest Prosthetics

Prior to this finding, the oldest known
functional prosthesis is the Roman Capua
Leg, which was made of bronze and dates
from about 300BC. The leg was held at the
Royal College of Surgeons in London but was
destroyed by Luftwaffe bombs during the
Second World War.
Roman Capua Leg, 300 BC
Earliest Described Prosthesis

The earliest description of a limb prosthesis is
found in Herodotus' The Histories written in
484 BCE. Herodotus tells of a Persian soldier,
Hegesistratus, who was imprisoned by the
enemy. In order to escape from the stocks,
Hegesistratus cut off part of his own foot. He
later wore a wooden replacement.
16th
Century
Prosthesis
16th Century Prosthesis
History of Prostheses

In response to the plight of World War II
amputees, the National Academy of Sciences
established the Artificial Limb Program in 1945.
This agency promoted and coordinated
scientific research with the goal of improving
the design of prosthetic devices. Much
emphasis was placed on investigating the
movement of normal human limbs so that
prostheses could be designed to appear as
life-like as possible
Arm
prosthesis,
1903
Students Make Prosthetic for Wrist
 Thanks
to a team of four engineering
freshmen at Northwestern
University's Robert R. McCormick
School of Engineering and Applied
Science, a 57-year-old burn victim is
playing tennis again.
Students Make Prosthetic for Wrist
As she recovered from a devastating
house fire and surgery that took most of
her right hand, Iris Miller's biggest
concern was whether she would ever get
back on the tennis court.
 Last April, two years after the fire, she
contacted the McCormick School for
advice. She wound up being the client of a
team of four freshmen who were looking
for a class project.

Students Make Prosthetic for Wrist
 Those
students designed and built
for her a custom prosthetic device -a specialized wrist strap that allows
her to wield a tennis racket and
again play the game she had so
enjoyed for 20 years.
Students Make Prosthetic for Wrist

In only 10 weeks time, the students got a
crash course in prosthetic design from
Dudley Childress, professor of biomedical
engineering and director of Northwestern's
Prosthetics Research Laboratory; got to
know the limitations and needs of their
client; came up with a design for a
workable device; and built it. Childress
said it was "remarkable" that the students
were able to produce a workable design in
their first try.
Students Make Prosthetic for Wrist
 Their
design, a Velcro and cloth
brace, allows Miller to strap a racket
securely to her forearm.
 They sewed it by hand. The students
have helped her learn to adjust and
use the device by playing tennis with
her.
Bionic Arm
 It works, feels and looks like a real arm.
 "Imagine an artificial arm that moves
naturally in response to your thoughts,
that allows you to feel both the outside
world and your own movements, and that
is as strong and graceful as an intact,
biological limb,”
Bionic Arm
Bionic Arm
 It uses a “peripheral nerve interface” – an
implanted device that would relay nerve
impulses from nerves in the residual limb
to a small computer worn on a belt and
then to the bionic arm. That would allow
a person to move the artificial limb like a
real one.
Bionic Arm
 The neural interface device between the
arm and the person wearing it would be
implanted in what is left of the amputated
arm or shoulder, and would send signals
wirelessly to the artificial arm via the beltpack computer.
Bionic Arm
 Current models have limited movements,
such as bending the elbow and wrist and
opening and closing the hand, while the
new arm will be capable of about 20
different movements, including moving
fingers independently.
Bionic Arm
 Existing prosthetic arms typically are controlled
by signals from an intact muscle, such as a
shoulder shrug, so only one movement can
occur at a time.
 The new arm will take the signals that go to all
the different arm muscles at once, and all the
person has to do is think about natural
movement and the arm will respond in a
natural way.
 This new arm will provide sensory feedback to
make the arm feel like a person’s own arm.
Robotic Arm Inspired By Elephants

Robot arms are expensive to build and
dangerous to operate. If a robot system
malfunctions, people can be injured. This is
not the case of ISELLA, a bionic robot arm
that is kind on the purse and gentle with
people. An elephant’s trunk served as
inspiration for its design.
Robotic Arm Inspired By Elephants
Robotic Arm Inspired By Elephants


It is long, gray, soft and – endowed with no
fewer than 40,000 muscles – extremely agile.
An elephant uses its trunk to grasp objects and
for drinking. With their trunks, the
pachyderms can tear down trees and pull
heavy loads, and yet are also capable of
performing extremely delicate manipulations.
“Its suppleness and agility gave us the idea for
a bionic robot arm, ISELLA.”
Robotic Arm Inspired By Elephants

Robot arms often present a risk to human operators –
a technical hitch can provoke wild, uncontrolled
movements. Not so ISELLA. Whereas conventional
robot arms have only one motor to drive each
articulated joint, ISELLA has two, grouped in pairs
so that if one motor control should fail, the second
takes over to prevent uncontrolled movements.
“Unlike pneumatic or hydraulic actuation systems,
our robot arm has a simple, low-cost muscle,
consisting of a small electric motor with a drive shaft
and a cord,”
Robotic Arm Inspired By Elephants


In the same way as a tendon attaches one muscle to another,
the cord links two related moving parts. The drive shaft is
attached to the midpoint of the cord. When the shaft turns, the
cord wraps around it in both directions, forming a kind of
double helix. The researchers have dubbed this DOHELIX.
“The shaft is no thicker than the cord, but is strong enough to
resist breaking.
This has been achieved using elastic materials with a very
high tear strength – the type of material used to manufacture
yacht sails and hang gliders. As a result, DOHELIX is much
cheaper and more energy-efficient than a system of gears.
Scientists Develop Clever
Artificial Hand
Scientists have developed a new ultra-light limb
that can mimic the movement in a real hand
better than any currently available.
Every year 200 people in the UK lose their hands.
Common causes include motorbike accidents and
industrial incidents. Currently available prosthetic
hands are either simple mimics that look like a
hand but don't move or moving hands which
have a simple single-motorgrip.
The human hand has 27 bones and can make a
huge number of complex movements and
actions. This prosthesis uses 6 sets of motors and
gears so that each of the five fingers can move
independently. This enables it to make
movements and grip objects in the same way a
real human hand does.
Scientists Develop Clever
Artificial Hand
The new hand, called the 'Southampton
Remedi-Hand', can be connected to
muscles in the arm via a small processing
unit and is controlled by small contractions
of the muscles which move the wrist.
"With this hand you can clutch objects
such as a ball, you can move the thumb
out to one side and grip objects with the
index finger in the way you do when
opening a lock with a key, and you can
wrap your fingers around an object in
what we call the power grip -- like the one
you use when you hold a hammer or a
microphone."
Scientists Develop Clever
Artificial Hand
The human thumb can move in
special ways the fingers can't. It can
rotate as well as flex and also move
in a variety of different directions. It
can also oppose (touch) each of the
fingers in the hand to form a 'pinch'.
To mimic this, the Remedi-Hand uses
two motors --one to allow it to rotate
and one to allow it to flex. The real
thumb can move in five types of
way, we've managed to create a
thumb that can mimic at least two of
these.
"Luke" Artificial Arm
"Luke" Artificial Arm



It's still awaiting formal clinical trials,
but this "Luke" artificial arm has
already gone through its share of
tests
It can be controlled through a variety
of means including foot pedals,
nerves or muscles, and it packs force
feedback to give the wearer an
indication of grip strength.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/video?id=221
ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES

Materials called electroactive
polymers, nicknamed "artificial
muscles," can bend, stretch and
contract like biological muscles
when an electrical charge is applied
to them.
ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES

The technology will combine
artificial muscles with prosthetics
and allow disabled people to
perform physical tasks
independently.
Brain Research Makes Move
Toward Better Prostheses


The simplest movement requires choosing which
combination of motor neurons will stimulate which of
thousands of muscle fibers with just the right amount of
force and at the proper time.
But no existing computer can analyze the
superabundance of variables involved in the movements
of a multijointed limb, such as an arm picking up a
coffee cup. That inability poses a major obstacle to
designing neuroprosthetics for amputees or people with
motor disabilities. (In neuroprosthetics, a person's brain
or spinal cord signals operate a device.)
New Research to Restore
Amputee Limb Function


Currently, prosthetic knees and ankles can
stop movement but cannot fuel it. New
joints can create the mechanical force
needed to walk and climb without falls or
fatigue.
To create proper knee rotation and
propulsion, special fluids are used that
solidify into a paste when passed through
a magnetic field, then reliquify when the
energy is removed.
Prosthesis Of The Future
The device, nicknamed SPARKy, short for
Spring Ankle with Regenerative Kinetics, will be
a first-of-its-kind smart, active and energystoring transtibial (below-the-knee) prosthesis.
Existing technology in prosthetic devices is
largely passive and requires the amputee to use
20 to 30 percent more energy to propel
themselves forward when walking compared to
an able-bodied person.
Prosthesis Of The Future
"A gait cycle describes the natural motion of walking
starting with the heel strike of one foot and ending with
the heel strike of the same foot," says Sugar. "The cycle
can be split into two phases -- stance and swing. We are
concerned with storing energy and releasing energy
(regenerative kinetics) in the stance phase."
When you look at the mechanics of walking, it can be
described as catching a series of falls, explains Sugar. In
the team's device, a tuned spring brakes falls and stores
energy as the leg rolls over the ankle during the stance
phase, similar to the Achilles tendon.
Prosthesis Of The Future
"What we hope to create is a robotic tendon that
actively stretches springs when the ankle rolls
over the foot, thus allowing the springs to thrust
or propel the artificial foot forward for the next
step," said Sugar. "Because energy is stored, a
lightweight motor can be used to adjust the
position of a uniquely tuned spring that provides
most of the power required for gait. Thus, less
energy is required from the individual."
Students Invent Voice Activated
Grasping Tool


Using two motors, speech-recognition software and
an exo-skeleton inspired by science fiction, three
Johns Hopkins University undergraduates have
designed and built a muscle enhancement device
that will help a disabled man grasp and lift a cup, a
book and other household items.
By uttering commands such as "open" and "raise,"
the man will receive mechanical help in moving his
fingers and bending his elbow. The motorized plastic
shell will fit over the right arm of the man, who has
an extremely rare degenerative muscle disorder.
Students Invent Voice Activated
Grasping Tool

This device, which could be adapted for other
people with disabilities, was developed during
two semesters by students in the Department of
Mechanical Engineering's Senior Design Project
course.
Monkey Feeds Self
Using Only Its Brain
Researchers at the University of
Pittsburgh have demonstrated that a
monkey can feed itself with a robotic
arm simply by using signals from its
brain, an advance that could enhance
prosthetics for people, especially
those with spinal cord injuries.
Monkey Feeds Self
Using Only Its Brain
The robotic arm, or neural prosthesis, is about the
size of a child's arm and moves much like a
natural arm, with a fully mobile shoulder and elbow
and a simple gripper that allows the monkey to
grasp and hold food while its own arms are
restrained.
"This is a breakthrough in the development of
neural prosthetic devices that will someday lead to
devices that could help people who are paralyzed
or who have lost limbs.“
http://video.yahoo.com/watch?fr=yvmtf&v=
2764000
Thought Controlled Prosthetics
• Monkeys were able to move balls around
in 3D space on a computer screen just by
thinking about it. With a little practice, they
got even better at it.
• "They achieved nearly the same accuracy
and speed as normal arm movements."
Thought Controlled Prosthetics
• A quadriplegic wearing a hat dotted with
electrodes gained mental control of an arm
prosthesis after a series of training sessions in
which he learned to regulate his beta-rhythm
through biofeedback.
• He learned to move a cursor up or down on a
computer screen just by thinking about it. By
thinking about moving the cursor up, he opened
his hand, and by thinking "down," his hand
closed. He demonstrated using the device to
pick up and hold objects like a drinking glass
and a fork.
Bionic Bone
 A new type of prosthesis that stretches and
lengthens damaged legs without the need for
painful surgery and long periods of
rehabilitation, dubbed the "bionic bone“.
 It uses an external source of energy to move
a spring embedded in soft leg tissue to
stretch the limb, thus allowing the affected
limb to grow at the same rate as the normal
leg.
Turning An Ankle Into A 'Knee'


Patient was a five-year-old girl with Ewing's
sarcoma, a cancerous tumor, behind her left
knee. Surgeons at The Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia used a limb-sparing technique
called rotationplasty to remove the diseased
portion of bone, turn the shortened portion of
the leg bone in a half-circle and reattach it, with
the ankle joint functioning as a knee.
With a prosthetic attached to the mobile joint,
the child, now 13, enjoys gymnastics and
cheerleading.
Turning An Ankle Into A 'Knee'
Video of the 13-year-old patient, walking with a normal gait, can be viewed here:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/351/8/e7
Animals with artificial legs
Animals with artificial legs
Animals with artificial legs