Electronic legs

1993/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna

In this same issue of the magazine Elhuyar you can know the path that research and innovations in plastic materials take to complete our body. But we want to bring to this corner a new field, that of the electronic legs. In other words, “expert prostheses”. Once the leg is cut, they begin to test the legs to move instead of the stiff prosthesis.

The leg has programmed five pneumatic shock absorbers that allow to circulate at different speeds. The knee sensor adjusts the pressure using a microprocessor-controlled valve and measures the degree of bending. When the pressure is high, the motion of the knee accelerates and therefore the stroke can also be faster.

Looking ahead, we are studying how to extend the life of the lithium battery that the system has (10 months ago). In addition, they want to develop the possibility of kneeling in the models they have launched in Japan; in Eastern cultures, much more common than ours.