Healthcare Technology

Almost all of the transtibial prostheses, which are for below-knee amputations that are available on the market, are purely passive devices. Usually two kinds of prosthesis are available in the market. The high end prosthesis usually makes use of the DC motors, hydraulics for their functioning such that the ankle behavior is mimicked completely by them. But cost of these high end bionics is way too much for the common people to buy them.
So our idea was to reduce the cost completely such that the common people could afford to buy them. The other set of prosthesis which is the solid ankle prosthesis, which is rigidly built using the carbon fiber, PVC and other materials.
This is purely a cast structure and it has no ankle motion and hence poses difficulties for the user. Thus we came up with an idea that could solve the problem of both the cost and also to mimic the ankle behavior. The solution was to harness the energy of the spring mechanism attached to the pylon and the artificial foot. Our design enables an ankle movement to achieve a level of comfort at an affordable price.
The first step was to develop a design, and to harness the energy of the spring system and it’s supporting components. This design was further developed and optimized to make it as light and compact as possible, while being able to withstand the loads that are exerted by the driving system and the body weight.