Improving Quality of Life

Prototype of bionic prosthetic ankle
designed by Drs. Voglewede and Schimmels

Mechanical engineering faculty Drs. Phil Voglewede and Joseph Schimmels, Principal Investigator (PI) and co-PI respectively, have been awarded a two year National Institutes of Health grant of $397,000 for their proposal “Bionic Trans-Tibial Prostheses."  Their research will develop a bionic prosthetic ankle which will allow lower limb amputees to lead more active and productive lives.

Current below-the-knee (trans-tibial) prostheses use passive springs to store and release energy during walking; while functional, they do not put energy into the ankle, causing amputees to walk abnormally and to tire quickly.  The funded research will investigate a new approach to the design of these lower limb prostheses. A prototype prosthetic bionic ankle will be developed using a system of springs and linkages in conjunction with an electric motor to more accurately reproduce ankle motion while simultaneously keeping energy consumption low.  The prosthetic ankle design will be based on existing theoretical research and on a mock-up experimental prototype which will show if the approach is feasible.   

The prototype will first be tested on a modified test stand at the Milwaukee School of Engineering to verify the performance of the prosthesis and ensure amputee safety.  It will then be fitted onto three test subjects who will first walk with a standard passive prosthesis and then the powered prosthesis at the Medical College of Wisconsin. During this testing, the research team will perform motion and force analyses to gain invaluable understanding of both the dynamic performance of the prosthesis and the users’ acceptance.