CAREER: Tuning passive prosthetic leg dynamics to create low-cost, robust devices that can replicate physiological gait in multiple activities of daily living

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Proposal #: 1653758PI: Winter, AmosThe aim of this CAREER project is to characterize the dynamics of prosthetic legs that utilize only passive mechanical elements (e.g. no motors or electronic controllers) such that it is possible to tune their performance to generate desired walking behavior in multiple activities of daily living. The project focuses on full leg prostheses, suitable for individuals with above-knee amputations. The goal is to understand how prosthetic dynamics vary based on the mass, geometry, and stiffness of the components of a passive prosthetic and how these can be varied to accurately replicate ablebodied walking. Combining this theoretical study, and adapting it to multiple activities of daily living, will result in the design of high-performance, low-cost prosthetic limbs that drastically enhance the mobility and quality of life for persons with lower-limb amputation in developing countries, while also providing a cost effective option with enhanced function for users of passive prostheses in developed countries. The core intellectual merit of this program is the creation of knowledge that connects the mechanical design of prosthetic legs to the biomechanical performance they induce. This knowledge will enable prosthetists to better customize limbs to patients? body size, weight, and lifestyle. The educational and outreach activities of this CAREER project will include teaching graduate, undergraduate, and high school students about the challenges faced by people with disabilities throughout the world, and how science and engineering can be used to make a fundamental impact on their lives. These students will directly contribute to the design of assistive devices, including the prosthetic legs created under this award. This CAREER program was designed to create the broadest possible impact on lower-limb prosthesis users by delivering high-performance legs that are affordable and appropriate in developing and developed countries. The aim of this CAREER project is to characterize the dynamics of prosthetic legs that utilize only passive mechanical elements, in order to tune their performance to generate desired kinematics and kinetics in multiple activities of daily living. This will create fundamental engineering knowledge that correlates the mechanical design of prosthetic legs to the biomechanical performance they induce, and will enable prosthetists to better customize limbs to patients? body size, weight, and lifestyle. The proposed research will manifest in high-performance, low-cost, robust, purely mechanical prosthetic legs. Functionality of the limbs will be enhanced by measuring able-bodied kinematics and kinetics from common activities of daily living, and then using these as targets in predictive models of how joint torques required for able-bodied motion can be produced with passive mechanical elements. This research program will build a foundational understanding of: how joint torque should vary as a function of leg segment mass to produce desired kinematics; how these adjusted joint torque profiles can be induced using passive mechanical elements; and how the stiffness and geometry of passive prosthetic feet can be tuned to accurately replicate physiological gait. For the first time, this work will be done for full leg prostheses appropriate for above-knee amputees. The technology resulting from this award will drastically enhance mobility and quality of life for amputees in developing countries, while also providing a cost effective option with enhanced function for users of passive prostheses in developed countries. The education and outreach activities of this program involve high school, undergraduate, and graduate students in design projects for individuals with disabilities from developing countries. This will improve students understanding of the importance of needs analysis while also supporting efforts to attract underrepresented groups to STEM fields.