Icelandic biomedical engineering company Ossur has developed a bionic prosthetic leg that is controlled by wearers' subconscious thoughts. The technology uses implanted sensors that send wireless signals to the artificial leg's built-in computer, allowing for fast, real-time subconscious control of movements and responses.
Ossur's mind-controlled lower-limb prosthetic technology is compatible with its line of bionic legs, knees and feet. These prostheses are essentially computerized smart limbs that are capable of real-time learning, and have the ability to adjust themselves to wearers' gait as well as their walking speed and the terrain they're navigating.
The technology allows user control of prosthetics to become more intuitive, allowing them to perform physical movements that manifest in the manner they were intended, and removing the need for wearers to have to think about their movements.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Thought-controlled Prosthetics
- Ossur's mind-controlled lower-limb prosthetic technology allows for real-time subconscious control of movements and responses, disrupting the traditional prosthetics industry.
- Real-time Learning
- Ossur's bionic legs, knees, and feet have the ability to adjust themselves to wearers' gait, walking speed, and terrain, presenting a disruptive innovation opportunity in the biomechanics industry.
- Intuitive User Control
- The technology removes the need for wearers to consciously think about their movements, revolutionizing the prosthetics industry by providing a more natural and intuitive user experience.
Where This Applies
- Biomedical Engineering
- The development of thought-controlled prosthetics by Ossur presents a disruptive innovation opportunity in the biomedical engineering industry.
- Prosthetics
- Ossur's bionic prosthetic legs, knees, and feet with mind-controlled technology disrupt the traditional prosthetics industry by providing real-time learning and intuitive user control.
- Biomechanics
- The integration of real-time learning in Ossur's bionic legs opens up disruptive innovation opportunities in the biomechanics industry by allowing prosthetics to adjust to wearers' individual movements and environments.
