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Icelandic Össur Technology announces that they have successfully made and installed subconsciously controlled prosthetic lower legs, ankles, and feet for two amputees and are preparing large-scale clinical trials. They hope to have such artificial legs (requiring surviving thighs) widely commercially available within three to five years. The company previously won the 2005 'Best of What's New' Popular Science magazine award for their artificial knee.
The legs use implants called myoelectric sensors (IMES Implanted MyoElectric Sensor) provided by the Alfred Mann Foundation from the United States. It's a bit unclear why Össur claims to be first as IMES have previously been used to trigger prosthetic leg movement by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago but it seems that Össur are the first to have amputees using such artificial legs, from the Popular Science article:
Ossur's sensor-linked limbs, meanwhile, have stood up to the abuses of everyday activity in Iceland and England (where Olafsson now lives). During the 14-month testing period, the company's two "first-in-man" subjects have worn the devices as their sole prostheses. Ossur checks the equipment and collects data, but the limbs are theirs. And the surgery to implant the sensors was minimal. According to Thorvaldur Ingvarsson, an orthopedic surgeon and head of R&D at Ossur, the procedure took 15 minutes, and each sensor required a single-centimeter-long incision. The tiny sensors (3 millimeters-by-80 millimeters) are powered by magnetic coils embedded in the socket -- the cushioned, hollow component that fits over a user's residual limb, and connects to the prosthesis. Since there are no integrated batteries to deal with, there's no need to replace the sensors (unless they fail for other reasons). "We believe this is a lifelong sensor," says Ingvarsson.
The IMES are surgically implanted in residual muscle tissue and connected to a receiver in the prosthetics, the signaling is continuous, immediate/real-time, and subconscious or instinctual (in addition to deliberate) in the same manner as with ordinary leg use.
The story has also been reported by RT which has some different images of the devices.
Original Submission
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 08 2015, @11:50PM
Human anatomy is well documented because Nazi doctors documented it. You're welcome.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday June 09 2015, @12:16AM
... when asked whether the nazi discoveries should be kept, for example taught to medical students, they want them to be so that the sacrifices of the holocaust victims will not have been in vain.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anne Nonymous on Tuesday June 09 2015, @12:53AM
...or in vein, either.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Tuesday June 09 2015, @05:49PM
the ends do not justify the means, but once the knowledge is already obtained, its stupid to forget it or let it go to waste just because it was obtained unethically. the problem of "this knowledge would be incredibly helpful to all but would be unethical to obtain" is neatly sidestepped by getting it from sick fucks with no ethics. we shouldn't encourage such actions, but whats done is done; we can't change the past so we may as well make the best of those bad situations.