SPARKy the prosthetic ankle set to "revolutionize prosthetics"

Who knew 2007 would be such a boom year for prosthetic ankles? Surely not us, but what a year it's been, with MIT's artificial foot and ankle design we saw last month, and the ankle exoskeleton we saw the University of Michigan working on in February. Today's "ankle flavor of the week" comes to us from Arizona State University, where some doctoral students have created "SPARKy," which they expect to "revolutionize prosthetics" and plan for it to be "especially helpful for military personnel wounded in active duty." SPARKy stands for "Spring Ankle with Regenerative Kinetics," and is meant to allow amputees a more traditional walk, instead of having to compensate with other muscles and work 20 to 30 percent harder to get where they're going. The concept is pretty straight forward: "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." There's a lightweight motor involved, but apparently this method is much less obtrusive than other such projects, which use large motors or high pressure. The robotic tendon should be ready for its first phase of demonstration in December of this year.

[Via Medgadget]

[jptech @ May 3rd 2007 3:15AM]

robocop's ankle is totally bitchin.

I see the resemblance.

[Mikolaj @ May 3rd 2007 5:38AM]

This "20-30% at the expense of 2lbs" kind of revolution is called evolution. Shave off a proper part of the 200-300% that a hip-disarticulation amputee gait requires compared to the able-bodied, then you'll be talking revolution. In last decades, the prosthetic hip joint has barely changed, maybe because of too much focus on these pico-revolutions.

[Frankenstein Black @ May 3rd 2007 12:05PM]

"Who knew 2007 would be such a boom year for prosthetic ankles? Surely not us"
Why? Haven’t you been following current events? Well in case you missed it (due to that all important American Idol voting commitment), our Oiligarch overlords and War Profiteers have been sending our youngster off to far off lands. And the ones that don’t DIE come back all maimed and broken (Physically and Psychologically)!

So why wouldn’t 2007 be a boom year for prosthetic ankles, especially since there are so many “new customers,” Kudos to the researchers that are trying to give our wounded a better life instead of Moldy, Cockroach infested rooms! AND SHAME ON YOU IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!!

[Deanodxb @ May 6th 2007 12:10AM]

Is it me or does that look like a bong (without zooming the pic)?