Microprocessor Controlled Prosthetic Legs

Sunday, June 15, 2008

As an avid gadget fan and an absolute Terminator fan, I was pleasantly surprised when I walked past some one on the street a few weeks ago, with a robotic prosthetic leg. I had to refrain from staring at him, I sure didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable and he had all my sympathy for having to have lost a limb… I can’t even imagine just how horrible that must be. But putting that aside for a moment, seeing that Terminator like robotic leg, was a hell of a thing. So I of course pulled out my blackberry and started researching the whole phenomenon. Not only are we now able to replace lost limbs with robotic ones, which has advantages over regular prosthetic limbs, but there is even the worlds first bionic eye, which gives the blind partial sight… more on that later.

So as far as the robotic prosthetic leg goes, it looks quite similar to, like I already mentioned, my favourite fictional evil robot nation, the Terminators. Other than the fact that it looks awesome, let’s have a look at the advantages of Microprocessor Controlled Prosthetic Legs. The thing with conventional prosthetic legs, from the first wooden leg up to high-tech prostheses using state-of-the-art materials, is that they cannot, obviously, mimic human movement. If you loose your leg, you’ll have to change the way you walk to adjust to the new prosthetic limb and obviously, your life will become a little more restricted, in the sense of say if you enjoyed certain activities, like playing tennis.

I suppose it was just a matter of time, before medical research moved towards microprocessor-controlled prostheses. Intelligent control technology combined with lightweight micro motors create a natural feeling walk. This is beneficial of course, because it’s more comfortable than the traditional prosthetic leg. After it’s been built and assembled and bought, each prosthesis is then fine tuned by your orthopedic specialist, to suit the needs of each individual. It uses its electromechanical systems to adapt to the individual’s walking style.

Because individual movement programs can now be set for different types of activities, things like running and cycling are now possible with Microprocessor Controlled Prosthetic Legs.

These Microprocessor Controlled Prosthetic Legs have been designed to cope with extremely hot and cold temperatures, any climate, from dry to wet or even desert sand. All of its components will sustain years of continuous use.

I’m glad that technology is taking such large leaps into helping people with disabilities or some one who has lost a limb, something which must be really tough to get use to. At least now, a little more comfort and ease is added to prosthetic limbs.