Engineering professor gets grant to develop flexible ankle prosthetic

A Michigan Tech professor recently got a National Science Foundation grant of almost a half-million dollars to develop a new artificial limb. 

 

Mo Rastgaar received a five-year award called the Faculty Early Career Development Award to fund his work on a powered ankle-foot prosthesis with a flexible ankle joint to restore mobility to lower-leg amputees. 

 

Rastgaar is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and engineering mechanics at Tech and has already designed and built a large circular treadmill with a team of students, in order to test out the robotic prosthesis. 

 

It works by translating signals from sensors on the bottom of the foot to a microprocessor in the artificial limb that then adjusts to the person's gait and stride to flex the ankle naturally from side to side and up and down.

 

The money will allow Rastgaar to improve the design, and provide the prosthesis to amputee patients at the Mayo Clinic for real-world testing. Eventually, he hopes to produce it on a commercial level to reach more patients.