Researchers at the University of Utah’s Bionic Engineering Lab have developed the “Utah Bionic Leg,” which they claim is the most advanced bionic leg ever created. Now, the university has forged a new partnership with German prosthetics company Ottobock to license the technology behind the Utah Bionic Leg and bring it to individuals with lower-limb amputations.
“The largest prosthetics manufacturer in the world has committed to use the highest level of technologies available in robotics and AI to bring this prosthetic leg to those who need it as soon as possible,” said University of Utah mechanical engineering associate professor Tommaso Lenzi, who is the lead researcher on the Utah Bionic Leg project. “Ottobock promotes freedom of movement, quality for life and independence. They are saying now is the time to make such technical solutions available to everyone.”
A ceremony and press conference announcing the partnership were held earlier this month in Lenzi’s Bionic Engineering Lab in the Rio Tinto Kennecott Building on the University of Utah campus.
Lenzi’s Utah Bionic Leg uses motors, processors and advanced artificial intelligence that all work together to give amputees more power to walk, stand up, sit down and ascend and descend stairs and ramps. The extra power from the prosthesis makes these activities easier and less stressful for amputees, who normally need to over-use their upper body and intact leg to compensate for the lack of assistance from their prescribed prosthetics. The Utah Bionic Leg will help people with amputations, particularly elderly individuals, to walk much longer and attain new levels of mobility.
“If you walk faster, it will walk faster for you and give you more energy. Or it adapts automatically to the height of the steps in a staircase. Or it can help you cross over obstacles,” Lenzi says.
“As a health-tech champion, Ottobock always seeks to improve functionality and safety for patients and users worldwide,” said Hans Georg Näder, owner and chairman of the board of directors of Ottobock at the press conference. “Professor Lenzi’s technology promises to achieve exactly that. It is a superior prosthetic knee, incomparable to any currently available product. Our partnership with the Bionic Engineering Lab enables this innovation and offers great opportunities to unite Ottobock’s experience and knowledge with technologically exciting new possibilities.”
Ottobock’s sponsorship of the UofU’s Bionic Engineering Lab will fund a state-of-the-art motion analysis system that includes a force-sensing treadmill and force-sensing staircase, 3D motion-capture cameras and other equipment to help analyze how the Utah Bionic Leg benefits users and to discover new ways to improve their technology.
In exchange, Lenzi’s lab will be called the Hans Georg Näder Laboratory, or HGN Lab. Ottobock will also gain joint ownership with the UofU for future technologies produced in the lab.