Modern dentures are often extremely comfortable, light and allow a person to live a full life, almost without thinking about his disability. However, they have a significant drawback: price. But soon things can change thanks to the engineers from mit who created nylon cheap prosthetic leg. Moreover, these dentures are several times cheaper than existing counterparts.
About designing the newspaper reports MIT News. According to the article, the method allows researchers to individually select the size and hardness of the prosthesis, knowing only the mass of the body, and if you save the second leg, the manufacture is simplified in several times, becoming almost automatic. According to the authors, similar they were able to achieve the new approach.
“Often, developers are trying to accurately reproduce the shape of the foot and ankle. We focused on the functions of these anatomical structures. Giving artificial foot elongated shape, we have designed it so that it is first and foremost functional. We needed to ensure that the weight and shape of the prosthesis as little as possible influence on gait.”
For the implementation of their ideas, the engineers from MIT has studied how to move the calf and foot depending on the weight of the human body, given the response of the joints for contact with the bearing and changing of the center of pressure when making the step. Then, using a mathematical model incorporating the collected data, scientists have found ideal for their needs, the size and shape of the future prosthesis. To produce the largest part researchers from nylon, which will not only allow you to adjust the stiffness of the structure depending on the mass of the human body, but also reduce the cost of production.
“Modern passive prosthetic of the most popular material in the form of carbon fibers will cost from one thousand to ten thousand dollars. An artificial limb, manufactured under our technology, will cost a couple of hundred.”
MIT scientists have created a cheap nylon legs
Vladimir Kuznetsov