Martin Bionics Honored as Innovator

Martin Bionics, a leading prosthetics research and development company based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, received the overall 2008 Journal Record Innovator of the Year award at a ceremony honoring business innovation. The company's latest project, the iPed, is a robotic foot-ankle prosthesis that utilizes adaptive control algorithms to mimic the function of the anatomical ankle by providing real-time accommodation for force, speed, and terrain changes. It was designed with the goal of providing a prosthetic system that does not limit an amputee's ability to walk on slopes or carry heavy loads. The iPed design is tailored to meet the needs of lower-limb amputees in all conditions and environments. The design allows an amputee to have a more natural gait pattern, while maintaining unmatched stance stability and ease of swing.

In order to achieve this, the iPed has been equipped with a Computational Intrinsic Control System (CICS) developed at Martin Bionics. Just as the brain controls the muscles of the body, the CICS controls the prosthetic ankle movements by sending embedded information from sensors within the device to the microprocessor, which alters the actuator movement accordingly. As a user walks down a hill or picks up his or her child, the resistance, angular velocity, timing, and other factors of the ankle's biomechanics are altered in real-time to provide natural movement, ease of use, symmetry and safety.

"This new approach enables the device to sense, think, and respond to the environment, allowing for true accommodation of varied terrain," said Jay Martin, founder and vice president of research and development of Martin Bionics. "Additionally, the inclusion of sensory feedback and neural integration currently under development will enable the amputee and device to function as one entity, with full closed loop control."

For more information, see www.oandp.com/edge/issues/articles/2007-11_04.asp