H. M. Herr. Multidisciplinary approaches to limb loss: A chain of events leading to a single step, Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, White House/VA Conference, Emerging Technologies, Washington, D.C., pp. 76-80, Oct. 2004.

Abstract

It's an honor to be here. In my research program, we think about the biomechanics and control of the whole organism - the whole body - down to the individual muscle cell, and we apply these sciences to the development of various technologies: prosthetics, orthotics, and also exoskeletons for human augmentation. Today, I'm going to speak primarily about leg prosthetics, but a lot of what I have to say is also appropriate for upper-limb amputees as well. I'll begin with a project that has been underway in my laboratory for many years, and it has been completed. It's now a product. And then I'm going to spend the rest of the time making fun of that device and telling you what's wrong with it and what we need to do as a community.