Tech Team Developing Seeing-Eye Robotic Ankle

A Michigan Tech mechanical engineer and his team are looking ahead to a prosthetic ankle that can see where it is about to step.

Michigan Tech’s newsletter, Tech Today, reports that Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Mo Rastgaar says his team is in the process of designing an artificial vision system for their already developed robotic ankle.

Rastgaar says the camera can identify the profile of the ground, while the computer knows where the next footstep will be, based on how the user is moving the leg, the computer then analyzes the information from the camera and applies the correct angle and stiffness to the ankle, just as you would with your biological foot and ankle.

That means the ankle could help the user climb stairs or step over a pothole.

Rastgaar hopes that eventually their robotic ankle will find its way out of the lab and onto the sidewalk.