prosthetics

When he was born in a high school biology lab last November, little Buttercup wasn't like all the other ducklings: His left foot was turned backward, making getting around a bit of a trial for the little guy. Although his caregiver at the school worked on turning the foot around the right way, it couldn't quite get there.

So when he was transferred to Feathered Angels Waterfowl Sanctuary in Arlington, Tenn., new owner Mike Garey realized pretty quickly that something had to be done.

"With his deformed foot, he would have been in pain and had constant cuts and foot infections walking on the side of it even at our sanctuary here, and foot infections on these guys is always a serious matter," Garey said. … Read more

It's only a matter of time, really. Google Glass, Epson's Movierio, the Oculus Rift, and similar technologies are at the cutting edge of wearable technologies. Sci-fi has certainly given us a glimpse at the potential future: internal links to the Internet, augmented eyesight and hearing, perhaps even full cybernetic bodies to house our minds.

We'll have the technology, we will build it. The question is, presuming it's safe, would you embed yourself with technology?… Read more

People who have lost fingers can try to get robotic hands that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Or they can try to 3D-print their own hand.

That's what Richard van As did after a woodworking accident in 2011 cost him four fingers. The South African carpenter decided to build his own fingers from hardware store parts but eventually turned to 3D printing.

Using a MakerBot Replicator 2 printer, he collaborated with Ivan Owen to create a prosthetic finger after much trial and error. They've since printed hands for four South African children who lack fingers. … Read more

Robotic prostheses may have a way to go before they work exactly like human limbs, but researchers are making great strides. A team out of Georgia Tech is working on new technology that could give these robotic limbs something akin to a sense of touch.

Thanks to tactile-sensing material that covers the entire prosthesis and software that integrates the gathered data, this robotic arm can maneuver through clutter and distinguish between hard and soft objects as it grips, pushes, and pulls more intuitively.

"Up until now, the dominant strategies for robot manipulation have discouraged contact between the robot's … Read more

Using what they are calling "mechanical agitation," researchers out of the Georgia Institute of Technology say they've developed arrays that can sense touch with the same level of sensitivity as the human fingertip, which could result in better bots and prosthetics.

The transparent and flexible arrays use about 8,000 taxels, which are touch-sensitive transistors that can generate piezoelectric signals independently -- meaning they emit electricity when mechanically agitated. As the researchers report this week in the journal Science, each of those thousands of transistors comprises a bundle of some 1,500 zinc oxide nanowires, which connect … Read more

The victims of the Boston Marathon bombing may have to live with the physical and emotional scars from the April 15 attack for the rest of their lives. For some of the injured, that includes learning how to live without one or more limbs.

More than 180 people were injured in the attack last week, with at least 13 people losing a limb or part of one. Right now, doctors are focused on recovery and making sure the victims are medically stable. But once the wounds heal, many of the patients will begin the process of being fit with a prosthetic device.

"This is not just about learning how to walk," Steve Fletcher, CPO, director of clinical resources at the American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics, told CBSNews.com. "It's a significant emotional, psychological, and physical recovery."

… Read more

It's hard to imagine life without a limb -- not just the physical difficulties, but how it might affect your relationship with your body, and your sense of how you're perceived by the world around you. One prosthetist is taking into account not just restoring limb function, but also the wearer's personality and style.

The Alternative Limb Project is the work of Sophie de Oliveira Barata, who, taking her honors degree from the London Arts University studying special-effects prosthetics, went to work as a sculptor for a prosthetics company. In her eight years there, she created realistic limbs and digits for amputees who wanted their new limbs to blend into their bodies.

de Oliveira Barata has continued this work with the Alternative Limb Project, and her realistic limbs, molded from casts of the customer's own body, are incredibly detailed. But some people prefer to stand out in a crowd. … Read more

If you're missing a hand, getting a replacement isn't exactly cheap. The BeBionic -- which is, admittedly, a higher-end model -- can cost up to $35,000. We imagine that's a little out of the price range of many amputees.

It's unsurprising, then, that some have taken it upon themselves to find a more accessible solution. Robohand, for example, has been creating 3D-printed robotic hands for children, with a free, open-source 3D-printing pattern available on Thingiverse for people who wish to make their own.

Christopher Chappell of the U.K. wants to do something similar. He'… Read more

Subscribe to Crave:

iTunes (HD) | iTunes (SD) | iTunes (HQ)

RSS (HD) | RSS (SD) | RSS (HQ)

Backyard tinkerer Grant Thompson teaches us how to build a solar-powered death ray. A man gets a Netflix tattoo for life and only gets a measly one-year subscription for it. Plus, we meet Mr. Stubbs the alligator, the first reptile (that we know of, at least) to receive a prosthetic tail. Donation came from the Phoenix Herpetological Society and the Core Institute. … Read more