Advanced signal processing expands artificial limb capabilities Digital signal controllers provide the key to a new generation of prosthetics From: Portable Design - May 2006 - page 32 By: Chris Clearman, Texas Instruments In May 2001, Jesse Sullivan, a veteran power lineman in Dayton, TN, accidentally touched a power line, causing 7,200 V of electricity to surge through his body. He had forgotten to wear his rubber gloves. A surgeon later amputated both of his arms and shoulder joints. In the past, this amputation would have meant that Sullivan would have been able to obtain only very limited usage from an artificial limb because upper-limb prostheses were limited to only three axes of motion-elbow, wrist, and hand-which are typically controlled by flexing the triceps and biceps, the most common control inputs for transhumeral (above the elbow) amputees. Shoulder disarticulation amputees can sometimes use chest and back muscles or switches to control a prosthesis; however, because of Sullivan’s skin-grafting procedures after the power accident, these muscles were not available for use with his prosthesis. Without any of these muscles available, Sullivan may have commissioned an expensive custom design to accommodate some other method of controlling the arm. He would have had to relearn how to make even the simplest motions. Although his artificial limb would have been able to move at the elbow, wrist, and hand, it would have hung limply at his side because he could not move it at the shoulder. Today, however, a new generation of prostheses uses an advanced signal-processing-based motor control strategy to dramatically improve these capabilities. The Boston Digital Arm from Liberating Technologies provides amputees with unique upper-limb prostheses that are dramatically more flexible and capable, in large part due to the control-optimized performance and integration offered by advanced digital signal controllers Control systems key to artificial limb performance Inputs and outputs key to digital signal controller selection Custom solution for every user Read the entire article at: http://pd.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?ARTICLE_ID=254414&p=21&cat=Appli Links: LTI Boston Arm Systems http://www.liberatingtech.com/products/LTI_Boston_Arm_Systems.asp Liberating Technologies' Boston Digital Arm Offers Increased Interface Options and More Life-Like Control Than Conventional Upper Limb Prostheses http://i-newswire.com/pr26529.html