3 New Prosthetics Grants – Zelik & Goldfarb Labs Gear Up for Increased Collaboration
Three newly-funded Vanderbilt research projects center around the goal of improving mobility and long-term health for lower-limb prosthetic users. The projects cover both powered and passive prosthetic limbs, and combine technology development with biomechanics and motion analysis assessments. The individual projects are aimed at: (i) reducing falls amongst above-knee prosthetic users by building human-like reflexes into robotic knees, (ii) enhancing how prosthetic legs are coupled to the residual limb, using a bio-inspired ankle-knee coupling mechanism to improve power transfer from the prosthesis to the rest of the body during gait, and (iii) improving the design of prosthetic feet to restore biological toe function in a way that will aid individuals with limb loss as they navigate various slopes, uneven terrains and daily obstacles.
- NIH R01 Grant (5-year, $1.6M). Mitigating the effects of stumble perturbations in transfemoral amputees (PI: Goldfarb; Co-Investigator: Zelik; Consultant: Dingwell (Penn State))
- NSF Disability & Rehabilitation Engineering Grant (2.5-year, $330K). Bio-inspired ankle-knee coupling to enhance walking for individuals with transtibial amputation (PI: Zelik; Co-Investigators: Goldfarb, Bastas (VUMC), Collins (Stanford), Caputo (Humotech))
- NIDILRR Field-Initiated Project Grant (3-year, $600K). Toe joint articulation in passive and powered prostheses for enhancement of walking and long-term health (PI: Zelik; Co-Investigators: Goldfarb, Bastas (VUMC))