We have smart phones, smart watches and even smart refrigerators, but an engineering company in the United Kingdom may have the next medical innovation on their hands with the development of a smart leg.
The smart prosthetic is currently one of three finalists for the MacRobert Award, one of the top engineering prizes offered in the United Kingdom. The smart limb is made by the engineering firm Blatchford, and it uses a network of sensors to adapt in real-time to the changing conditions the user experiences.
Smart Prosthetic
The company says the smart lamb mimics many of the same functions of a human leg. Here are some of the awesome tech features the smart prosthetic offers:
- When the wearer comes to a standstill, the knee automatically locks up, similar to the knee joint in a working human leg. This allows the wearer to relax.
- The leg is calibrated by collecting and sending data about the user’s walking patterns using Bluetooth connectivity.
- Its innovative features should cut down on back problems and falls, two things that plague users with more cumbersome prosthetic devices.
“Blatchford has achieved a huge leap forward in making the knee and ankle joints work together as an integrated system, enabling it to adapt immediately to both the actions of the wearer and changes in the environment,” said Dr. Frances Saunders, one of the MacRobert Award judges.
The winner of the engineering award will be announced on June 23. The smart prosthetic is competing against Jaguar Land Rover, who built their own innovative engines, and against Siemens Magnet Technology, who have developed a more comprehensive and useful MRI scanner.
