The Task
The Problem
"Imagine an everyday simple task like brushing your teeth or tying your shoes, tasks which most of us take for granted. However for millions of people who have suffered limb loss this is not the case.
There are approximately 1.7 million people living with limb loss in the US alone and world wide, the estimate is 10 million. Limb loss can be attributed to congenital defects, disease, and sadly, to accidents and violence. Prostheses are artificial parts made to replace or augment missing body parts. A bionic, biomechatronic, “robotic” prosthesis would greatly improve the quality of life for millions of people worldwide.
Researchers have developed “Neural Prosthesis” in animal models and this research indicates promise for a future thought controlled human prosthesis. Touch BionicsTM has developed the world’s first bionic hand, the i-LIMBTM Hand.
According to the National Institutes of Health’s National Eye Institute, over one million Americans aged 40 and over are currently blind and an additional 2.4 million are visually impaired. A California company, Second Sight, is investigating implantable visual prosthetics to enable blind individuals to achieve greater independence.
Approximately 15 percent (32.5 million) of American adults report some degree of hearing loss and 2 to 3 out of every 1,000 children in the United States are born deaf or hard-of-hearing. Current technologies for assistive devices include digital hearing aids and cochlear implants which generally have the battery and processor worn outside the ear. Future research is being conducted to design completely implantable assistive devices with greater sensitivity. These and other future advances, which utilize robotic and bionic technology, will improve the quality of life for a significant number of people worldwide." - 2009 Research and Design Website Challenge