Informing Ankle-Foot Prosthesis Prescription through Haptic Emulation of Candidate Devices.

ABSTRACT: Robotic prostheses can improve walking performance for amputees, but prescription of these devices has been hindered by their high cost and uncertainty about the degree to which individuals will benefit. The typical prescription process cannot well predict how an individual will respond to a device they have never used because it bases decisions on subjective assessment of an individual's current activity level. We propose a new approach in which individuals 'test drive' candidate devices using a prosthesis emulator while their walking performance is quantitatively assessed and results are distilled to inform prescription. In this system, prosthesis behavior is controlled by software rather than mechanical implementation, so users can quickly experience a broad range of devices. To test th

SUBMITTER: Caputo JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4996637 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature