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Biomedical technology: supporting movement.

Article Excerpt
Earlier this month, in a little-noticed ceremony in Japan, the world's first fully functioning robotic exoskeleton was launched. It is called the Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL[R]) system, created by CYBERDYNE[R], and will endow the wearer with abilities and strength he or she could previously only have dreamt of (Hornyak, 2008). According again to Hornyak (2008), the robotic suit[R] moves only when you want it to move, and it works by using sensors applied to the skin that detect the faint electrical currents sent by the brain through the nervous system when it commands a particular activity. These sensors are connected to a computer that interprets the signal and then sends its own command to electric leg and arm braces. Upon detection of the appropriate electrical nerve signal, HAL[R] moves a split second before the leg muscle itself, Along with the Hybrid Assistive Limb, several other discoveries that have the same purpose--to minimize the problems related to physical disabilities--have been on the rise.

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Disability is a public problem (Gusfield, 1981) as well as a deeply personal one; functional loss necessitates the construction of artificial prosthetic devices and related research. According to the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, an estimated 8.5 million children 21 years and younger have a disability (Jans & Stoddard, 1999). Loss of a limb is one type of disability. Of the estimated 1,285,000 amputees (excluding fingers and toes) in the United States in 1996, an estimated 70,000 were under the age of 18 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999, p. 93). Amputations typically result from accidents with motor vehicles, lawn mowers, farm machinery, commercial machinery, gunshot wounds, or are secondary to burns or vascular insufficiency following fractures (Letts & Davidson, 1998). There are three main types of deficiencies that lead to the need for amputation and the use of prosthetics.

Congenital limb deficiencies are limb deficiencies that occur prenatally and are apparent at birth. It has been estimated that the overall incidence of limb deficiencies is approximately 6.0 per 10,000 live births, with upper limb deficiencies being three times more common than lower limb deficiencies (Wilson, 1998).

Meningococcal-induced purpura fulminans are sepsis-induced infections following viral, bacterial, or rickets infection (Adams & Hobar, 1998). Children who survive these kinds of systemic infections are at risk for microvascular injury as a result of the toxin buildup in the tissues. Removal of dead tissue prior...

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