Survival Tech - A Smarter Knee
From: Massachusetts General Hospital
      Dispatches from the Frontiers of Medicine
      Proto Magazine - Winter 2006 - page 24
By: Michael Lasalandra and Lindsay Holmwood

An ebbing death rate from battle wounds means a rising tide of maimed
survivors, including hundreds of blast victims absent a limb. Though Hugh
Herr didn't lose his legs in war - it was from frostbite on a
mountain-climbing trip - he can empathize, and at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology's Media Lab, the mechanical engineer is working on a prosthesis
that could dramatically improve the lives of wounded soldiers and civilian
amputees. The Rheo prosthetic knee uses artificial intelligence and a
battery-powered microprocessor to "learn" an individual's walking style.
Sensors measure changing joint positions and weight placement at a rate of
1,000 times a second, while a magnetorheologic actuator - using a magnetic
field and an electromagnet - increases or decreases resistance at every step.
Herr also has plans for an advanced foot-ankle prosthesis. In fact, he says,
a new generation of lifelike limb systems may be only four to five years away. 

Read the article at:
http://www.protomag.com/issues/2006_winter/survival_tech_p2.html

Photo of knee
http://www.protomag.com/issues/2006_winter/images/survival_knee.jpg

Links:
Hugh Herr
http://biomech.media.mit.edu/people/herr.htm

Rheo Knee
http://www.ossur.com/template110.asp?PageID=1780
http://www.mutualortho.com/technology.asp

A Magnetorheological Transfemoral Knee Prosthesis
http://biomech.media.mit.edu/research/pro3_1.htm

Ossur's Rheo Knee Promises Less Fatigue, More Confidence
http://www.oandp.com/facilities/tx/mpi/fea15.htm

First Rheo Prosthetic Knee Fit on a Texan
http://www.oandp.com/facilities/tx/mpi/fea13.htm

Award for breakthrough Rheo Knee
http://beta2.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-09/o-ocf092205.php

Bionic Knee Hits Market
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/4759189/detail.html

The Rheo Knee from MIT adjusts and learns on the go
http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/03/the-rheo-knee-from-mit-adjusts-and-learns-on-the-go/

'Smart' knee adjusts to gait, stance and makes walking easier for amputees
http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2005/05/17/life/life01.txt
