Research based essay: Cyberlegs

       Cyberlegs is a joint project by a number of European institutions including the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna di Pisa. Researchers from these schools have been working on the project since 2012. The project has a goal of developing an artificial cognitive system for assisting amputees in daily activities. It can be meaningful to understand the way it works, and the significance in the field of biomedical engineering.

 

              Cyberlegs enable amputees to walk, climb stairs, move with a minimum cognitive, energetic effort. The basic principle of cyberlegs lies in copying the amputee’s habitual leg movement with a motor. The leg includes a sensor, which reads the angle of one’s ankle, or the strength applied to the legs while walking. And the motor artificially makes a movement such as kicking the ground or spinning the ankle. This differs greatly from original prosthetic limbs. The original limbs do not involve ankle movements, which results in lack of stability. However, with the help of cyberlegs, the amputee can walk, climb the stairs, or move with a minimum cognitive and energetic effort much more naturally. 

 

               Last year, Juliano Pinto, who is paralyzed from the waist down, kicked the World cup football using an exoskeleton connected to the neurons in his brain. Pinto simply had to think  about how to kick the ball and the science helped the physical movement. Likwise, the Cyberlegs project took a step forward in terms of biomedical engineering. Biomedical engineering (BME) applies engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes. Unlike other science projects, cyberlegs solely focus on the movement of a human being combining engineering to human life. As the interaction force between cyberlegs and the amputee is the moving power of them, the project effectively shows how engineering can effectively help daily human life.

                To conclude, the project Cyberlegs made an effective tool for amputees using a motor which copies the leg movement of the user. It is important as a way of combining science into real human life. Although the project still needs further financial, medical improvements, Cyberlegs has made a new major contribution in biomedical engineering.