Breakthroughs in Bionic Limb

After hearing Professor Wasser talk about the Genium bionic limb in lecture, I became very interested in this new innovation and decided to do more research on the subject. The Genium Bionic Prosthetic System is the only existing microprocessor controlled knee in the world. This prosthetic works by anticipating one’s movements in order to imitate a normal leg. It anticipates movement using an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and three microprocessors. The accelerometer records speed while the gyroscope orients its location in space. These two technologies then send the information to the three microprocessors, which anticipate further movement.

What is unique about this prosthetic is its ability to move in ways only a normal leg can: to the side, backwards, etc. This is the most natural prosthetic to date because of its ability to adapt to the users motions. However, since this is such a new technology, only six people own one. This topic interested me so much because I hope to enter into the field of orthopedics where prosthetics are common and regularly installed. Hopefully, by the time I start practicing, more breakthroughs like the Genium bionic knee would have occurred, allowing me to work with them, install them, and make the patient’s life that much more normal.

Source: http://www.hanger.com/prosthetics/services/Technology/Pages/Genium.aspx