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Bionic bluetooth legs
By john | January 27, 2008
Interesting story here about the new bionic legs that an Iraq War veteran is learning to use. While mechanical prosthetic legs are nothing new, the key idea is that the leg developers are now using bluetooth wireless signals to allow the legs to talk to each other about what they’re doing. I can see where this would be a huge advantage in controlling the legs, as this is usually a function handled by the nervous system. Since the user has no idea of the position of the legs while walking, it must be extremely difficult to develop a normal gait. Inter-leg communication should help with this by providing more communication and coordination between the legs, although not really to the user. Hopefully this is just an interim measure, as the ultimate method for the legs to communicate would be through a direct link to the nervous system, just like a normal pair of legs.
Topics: bionics |