Advanced Electronic Knee Prosthesis

The Advanced Electronic Knee Prosthesis project combines the resources of Sandia National Laboratories, Ohio Willow Wood (OWW), and the All-Russia Scientific Research Institute of Technical Physics (VNIITF), also known as Chelyabinsk-70, in the development of an advanced electronic knee prosthesis. This project is a follow-on to earlier work involving the same three principals who developed a rolling joint foot and ankle prosthesis.

Each participant contributes a unique capability and expertise to this collaborative development. Ohio Willow Wood brings knowledge and experience in the design, development, and manufacturing of prosthetic devices. The company will establish a manufacturing capability for the project and will provide development knee hardware, design definition, and mechanical and outcomes testing.

Sandia National Laboratories will utilize its robotics and mechanical design expertise to develop the electronic mechanism and a variable orifice valve to simplify the overall design and reduce its attendant manufacturing cost. Prototypes will be fabricated at Sandia and tested primarily at Ohio Willow Wood, with fabrication technologies transferred from Sandia to Ohio Willow Wood.

Chelyabinsk-70 will develop the titanium housing required for the electronic housing. The institute has accumulated extensive data on the applications of titanium, has the computational capabilities for stress analysis, and has fabricated and performed tests on titanium parts.

There are three potential products from this project: 1) an advanced electronic knee; 2) a knee housing; and 3) an electronic knee mechanism. Whereas the advanced electronic knee incorporates both the housing and the mechanism, the separate sections can also become commercial products that can be combined with other commercial mechanisms and housings.