A team of scientists from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), more precisely from the University of Mostar, and the universities of Sarajevo and Zenica are working on a smart upper leg prosthesis that should mimic natural walking. So far, three prototypes have been made, and experts hope that the fourth one should be optimized soon and ready for production.
”The goal is for this upper leg prosthesis to copy the movement of a healthy leg, and we have enough force in it to enable above-knee amputated people to move normally, as well as climb stairs or sidewalks or similar obstacles, which has not been the case with previous prostheses,” said Remzo Dedic, professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Computing, and Electrical Engineering, the University of Mostar, who is also the project manager, Federalna writes.
The project has humanitarian, medical, and economic significance, potentially even on a global scale.
”According to our information, this is still an unresolved problem in the world. So, people basically pull their leg with a prosthesis together with a healthy leg, so their movement is unnatural. Our goal is for people to move upstairs or on an obstacle in a natural way, meaning going foot after foot. Also, this increases their ability to move, play sports, and simply livelife as normal healthy people do,” explained Dedic.
Also, he added that there are some solutions for smart prostheses, but, their price is 25 thousand euros.
”We believe that the price of this prosthesis that we make could be half cheaper, or maybe even a third of the stated price,” noted Dedic.
He pointed out that their goal was to help people in BiH who got injured in the last war, as well as those who got injured from mines, so they wanted to have a modified, better solution than the one currently on the market, and a fairly cheap solution.
So far, as he explained, three prototypes have been made, and they went from project to project.
”So, it was not continuous, but intermittent work because without minimal resources you can not get the necessary equipment, and also the development was partly in connection with the doctoral dissertations of some colleagues. It all lasted for almost fifteen years of work. In doing so, we made three prototypes and each went a step further. We think after this the fourth prototype should be optimized and ready for some semi-series or serial production,” Dedic said.
The final completion of the work can be expected in a year, and everything will depend on the available funds.
”We have already reached the stage when we are nearing the end of that goal, we know all the data, we know what we need, we just need to obtain some funds to complete it all,” told Dedic.
The price of the prosthesis, according to their estimate, should be around 15 thousand BAM.
Finally, he emphasized that PhD students, students of the second cycle, ie those with the title master, as well as first cycle students worked on the project through their final work.
E.Dz.
