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Biotech Science

Bionic Leg for the Commercial Market 49

Posted by timothy from the less-than-6-million-dollars dept.
Jay writes "I thought you may be interested in this crazy-cool fully powered bionic knee called the Power Knee. It's made by Victhom, a French-Canadian company and will be marketed by Ossur, an Icelandic prosthetics company and one of the biggest prosthetics companies in the world. You may have seen them in the news lately with their Rheo Knee or rheomagnetic computer controlled knee. This new Power Knee takes it to the next level with full active power. Supposedly it will allow people to walk up stairs and the like. Here's the link to Ossur's Power Knee website with photos and video, and to Victhom's website. Cool video, amazing device."
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Bionic Leg for the Commercial Market More

Bionic Leg for the Commercial Market

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  • i don't really get it (Score:2, Interesting)

    by killa62 ( 828317 )
    so is it just a replacement leg for someone who lost their leg? So it read your body's "mind" and does whatever you want?
    So if you jump on landing it will bend a little so that it coushins the jump?
    and if you run it mimics how your other leg moves so that your body can't tell if it is a real or fake leg?
    • A feature that would be very useful, though I didn't see it mentioned anywhere on the site, would be the ability to "punish" the knee for making an error. Most learning algorithms work by having a teacher tell them what sort of actions/decisions were right or wrong. With this system, there is probably some sort of hardcoded teacher, which is not necessarily the best way to do things -the best judge of what you want your bionic leg to do is probably yourself, and not a programmer somewhere. For example, if y

    • Re:i don't really get it (Score:5, Informative)

      by multiplexo ( 27356 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @02:39AM (#12086439) Journal
      Above knee (trans femoral) amputees have a harder time of walking with most prosthetic knee joints because they have to learn to modulate the swing of their leg using the muscles in their thigh, glutes and lower back. Eventually many of them learn to do this well enough so that you can't tell that they are wearing a prostheses. However this is very fatiguing. The Ossur C-leg was a major advance for AK amputees because the microprocessors could modulate the swing of the lower portion of the leg, making it swing farther for a faster gait and not so far for a slower gait.

      However for climbing up and down stairs AK amputees have a harder time, even with a smart knee such as that in the C-leg because they don't have the muscles to modulate their gait and the muscles through the knee that help you go up and down slopes and stairs. Going up and down stairs with a BK amputation (trans-tibial) is also difficult due to the loss of the muscles and joints in the foot but is manageable, for an AK amputee all of the work in going up and down stairs has to be done by the remaining leg, which gets tiring very quickly.

      I've met a lot of AK amputees (I'm a BK amputee) and this leg will be a huge advance for them, now we just need to get their insurance companies to pay for them, which isn't easy because a sophisticated AK prostheses can end up costing 50 or 60k when all is said and done.

  • Another application? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Pi_0's don't shower ( 741216 ) <ethan&isp,northwestern,edu> on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @12:09AM (#12085716) Homepage Journal
    While this looks promising for prosthetics, as the article says, I wonder if this has any implication for simple knee-replacement surgery? As someone whose family has a history of knee replacement surgeries, it sure would be nice if they could make an artificial knee that would last more than 15 years...
    • " it sure would be nice if they could make an artificial knee that would last more than 15 years..."

      Please pardon my ignorance, but a.) is 15 years about the typical duration and b.) Is it that inconvenient? I think what I'm lookin for is an idea of what it's like.

      I hope that doesn't sound insensitive.
      • Is it inconvenient? Well, that depends. If you don't mind having your leg broken in two places with a chisel, then having someone take a 3/4 in bit to the butt ends of the long bones, then glue in a foreign object...and then sew up the incisions they made to cut your leg off to all that work...why, no, it isn't inconvenient.

        Otherwise, I gather it's held to be moderately unpleasant.

    • Longevity of artificial joints (Score:4, Interesting)

      by spineboy ( 22918 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @08:48AM (#12087569) Journal
      Yes, 15 years is the lifetime that we're seeing, on average, but remember that these were put in 15 years ago! The plastics (ultra high molec weight, highly cross linked poly) are supposedly much better now, and should last longer than the 15 years.

      Hips and knees are diferent - knees are currently limited to metal on plastic, whereas hips can come in a variety of composites. Recently, metal -metal hips, and ceramic hips have been making a go around - they are supposed to have 10 times less wear than the plastic-metal hips.

      TO be honest 15 years is very good. Most people really dont need a total joint arthroplasty (artificial joint) until they are over 50 years of age. One revision surgery should last them until they are around 80 - which is currently a little higher than the average lifespan of most people.

      Several factors have an effect on the lifetim of these artificial joints - younger, heavier people wear theirs out faster , than older lighter people. However, being overweight probably was a MAJOR contributing factor for the reason that many people need these in the first place.

  • power consumption (Score:3, Interesting)

    by phloydphreak ( 691922 ) on Wednesday March 30, 2005 @12:12AM (#12085724) Journal
    The article states the the prosthetic generates its own power, probably a kinetic power generator. How much power can such a device output, especially to run an embeded AI which determines the movement of the limb. Does the limb eventually run out of power (reducing it back to a normal prosthetic)? Such as, if the limb is not used for an extended period of time? The very design of it is ingenious though, and I would not doubt that they have made the system fully self-sufficient. Very cool.
    • Well, "normal prostetics" are quite impressive at times.

      My Dad used to have a co-worker who lost his leg to cancer in his 20's. He walked fairly well, minus the slight awkardness (more like a limp). If you saw him around the office, you'd assume he had a bad day of tennis, not a missing leg.

      I imagine the leg would act like a "normal" prostetic, and only give power in short burstsm to help you up a slope or a flight of stairs. The rest of the time, it would recharge the battery (hopefully that doesn't w
    • The article states the the prosthetic generates its own power, probably a kinetic power generator.

      I saw a tv "documentary" on this: The calf of the leg is a battery (or was in one of their prototypes), and the person wearing it, btw, wears a special sole in his other shoe that gives the bionic leg information on when he's stepping and lifting his foot and so on.
  • When will we start seeing bionics marketed towards those who want to be better than normal? Transhumanists.
    • I thought that was what lasic surgery, and breast augmentation was all about?
      • Olympic Athlete: Doctor I am running for my country next month.

        Doctor: And?

        Olympic Athlete: I need you to give me bionic legs.

        Doctor: But your legs are fine.

        Olympic Athlete: Here, use this chainsaw. While you are at it, hook me up with some implants.

        Doctor: This is crazy.

        Olympic Athlete: We'll do arms next week. After the olympics, I am playing for the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, PGA.

      • I would have to disagree with you about the significance of Lasix surgery. It might be abused, but for those of us with poor vision, it is a possible godsend. My opthamologist tells me that with this surgery, I will not need trifocals, and would only need reading glasses. Were it not for my daughter's braces taking first priority, I would have had it already.

        Curing people of myopia is as innovative as creating glasses in the first place.
    • As soon as there are bionic parts better than normal ones I'm sure we'll start seeing replacements openly marketed for the non-disabled, but even before that there will be tiny "additions" that are concievable: under-the-skin medical/ID tags, AR (augmented reality) processors, stuff like that. Probably won't be another decade until any of the earliest stuff becomes available though. That's mostly a guess though, so don't quote me on that.
    • Gentlemen, we can rebuild him... We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before... Stronger... Faster...
    • When will we start seeing bionics marketed towards those who want to be better than normal?

      When the athletes of the paraolympics get better times than the those of the regular Olympics.
      Then you'll stop calling amputees "disabled", and you wellcome your new bionic overlords.

  • Naming? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Grayden ( 137336 )
    Is it by coincidence or by design that the name of the company that makes the replacement limbs is more or less a homonym for "victim"?

    When I see "Victhom" I see it being pronounced "VIC-tum".
    • And the company that will sell it sounds just like "LOSER"!!! They must all be morons.

      If only there was another explanation, like if they were from a magical fantasy land far away and spoke not English like all civilized people, but in a strangely different and marvelous tongue?

      Chevy Nova? Mazda Laputa? Bueller?

  • Biggest prosthetics company eh? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ...biggest prosthetics companies in the world...takes it to the next level with full active power.
    Bah! This isn't news! I get offers every day offering me a bigger prosthetic that will give me fuller more active power.
  • Has I recall Steve Austin (6 Million Dollar Man) had two legs, an arm and that Eye, so this would make 1/4th of that. 1.5 Million?
    • Steve Austin. Astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better. Stronger. Faster..."
  • That means my dream of having a bionic arm [com.com] is not too far off!
  • What? Next thing we'll see are Spanish-American companies, English-French companies, Polish-German companies and others.

    If a company is located in Canada, it is then a Canadian company. Period.

  • High bandwidth (DSL): 500kb Low Bandwidth (56k): 4MB?
  • I, for one, welcome our new Icelandic cyborg overlords.
  • They just couldn't resist putting in those borg-esque blinking LEDs, now could they?

    Does add to the cool factor, though.
    • ACHTUNG! Alles touristen und non-technischen peepers!

      Das bionikleggen control is nicht fur gerfinger-poken und mittengrabben. Oderwise is easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowen fuse, und poppencorken mit spitzensparken.

      Der bionikleggen is diggen by experten only. Is nicht fur geverken by das dummkopfen. Das rubbernecken sightseenen keepen das cotten picken hands in das pockets, so relaxen und watchen das blinkenlights.
  • "Ossur" means "fart" in turkish. "Fart" means "velocity" in swedish. I think I've made my case as to how this was named.
    *clears throat*
  • pics in TFA show a lot of metal...they won't be content to wand you and you'd probably have to travel in presentable underware and zip-off clothing 'cause you are getting an inspection when your leg looks like part of a small missle.
  • This is great news. Now we can send thousands of maimed Iraq veterans back to the "front" ("Iraq"), tougher and madder than before. We might have pushed a draft back by at least a year - another whole year of Slashdotters who will be too old to go bionic, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

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