The RAPHaEL (Robotic Air Powered Hand with Elastic Ligaments) is the brilliant tool from the minds of Virginia Tech. Like you see in the name, air drives the hand's movement without costly or bulky motors/actuators. The system requires just 60 psi, which when guided by microcontroller commands, allows the hand to open and close with precision down to the individual finger.

As you see in the clip, this design can just as easily grasp a can as a light bulb. Plus, it makes a cool pssht sound whenever you grab something. [VirginiaTech via Engadget]

These "digitigrade leg extensions" are the work of Seattle-based sculptor Kim Graham. Essentially a fancy pair of stilts, the legs mimic digitigrades (animals including horses that bear weight on their toes). Half this video demonstrates how the legs look on a human. The other half demonstrates how they look on a furry satyr.

Brb, gotta voluntarily vomit up this Kashi and coffee that I consumed about three moments too soon this morning. [Kim Graham via Super Punch]

A leg fashioned for above-knee amputees, the Power Knee is the only prosthesis of its kind to feature an AI-driven motor. Sensors in the foot gather precise measurements of contact while accelerometers and torque sensors gather additional movement data, the information is sent to an onboard computer and the knee is driven as naturally as possible to compensate motion for environmental factors.

The result is supposed to be a fluid walking experience that relieves an amputee's concentration on walking—claims that will be tested when the Power Knee is released to the public in 2010, or whenever Skynet begins investing in Ossur stock. [Ossur via Engadget]

Her original prostheses never fit perfectly, causing her pain and great difficulty when walking. So, with the financial help of their community, Ellie May's parents took her to Dorset Orthopaedic where doctors designed an extra small pair of carbon fiber legs—the same type of prostheses used by Olympic sprinters—costing about $15,000.

She'll need a new pair of legs every two years as she grows up.

But while doctors were originally worried that she'd have a tough time balancing on her new limbs, Ellie May is moving twice as fast as she did before. And as one specialist put it, "Within seconds of having them on, she was off. It will change her life." [Echo via Neatorama]

Indeed, his prosthesis concept manages to be both. The Corian-plated limb features two dome joints that offer a wider range of motion than a real arm while still managing, at least in my eyes, to be as much an accessory as it is a medical device.

Imagine if this arm had been covered in a pseudo-flesh toned rubber. Your brain would acknowledge the piece as something that didn't fit. Maybe because this arm isn't trying to look real, my brain accepts it as part of the image with ease.

What do you see? [PlayMeDesign via Engadget]

Doctors were able to fuse a titanium alloy rod to her bone and the skin healed naturally around it—creating a protective seal. "The technique, intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthesis, or Itap, is based on reindeer antlers, which naturally grow through the skin without any problems." This prevents infection and eliminates the need for traditional strap and socket prosthesis. Battery-powered sensors allow her to control the movement of her hand by flexing muscles in her upper arm.

Yeah, its a bit creepy sounding—but it is also remarkable. This kind of technology could greatly improve the lives of people who rely on prosthetic limbs. [BBC and Daily Mail via Boing Boing Gadgets]

The work on Czyz's leg started four years ago, when the ESA's Technology Transfer Programme broker MST Aerospace met with the athlete and his trainer for a pre-screening. What they developed over the following few years focused on the "L-bracket," or connection angle, between the knee joint and foot prosthesis.

"In collaboration with the German company ISATEC, we developed a new L-bracket using materials originating from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), an instrument that will be mounted on the International Space Station to study extraterrestrial anti-matter, matter and missing matter," said Dr. Werner Dupont, MST Aerospace Managing Director.

For real space and physics geeks, you can geek out a little more with this ESA-supplied bit on the AMS. It turns out the materials used in this track and field-come-space flight device are going to do a lot more than just break earthbound records:

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) is a particle physics experiment that is to be mounted on the International Space Station designed to search for various types of unusual matter by measuring cosmic rays. It is an international collaboration involving 500 scientists from 56 institutions and 16 countries. Final assembly was done at CERN and thermal/vacuum testing was performed by ESA before its shipment to the Kennedy Space Center. AMS is planned to be delivered to the ISS by the Space Shuttle in 2010.

As for Czyz, he beat the previous record by an astounding 27 cm. [ESA]

Older models of computer-controlled legs have to be "programmed" via wire by laptop computers before the amputee can use them. Those legs required more movement from the amputee's remaining thigh muscle to generate motion in the prosthetic leg. Because of built-in motors, the Bluetooth legs allow Bleill to walk longer before he tires.

"We've compared walking several laps in both sets of legs and one, your legs come out burning and tired and these, you know, you sometimes are not even breaking a sweat yet."

We weren't kidding when we said it helps him kick ass. "So sometimes the leg kicks harder than I want it to, or farther, and then I start perpetuating, and I start moving faster than I really want to." [CNN]

The foot has a rotating ankle joint attached to an artificial shin and a board-like surface for the part that touches the ground. We're always excited when we hear about advances in prosthetics, because one of our greatest fears is losing a limb in a horrific blogging accident. Don't laugh. It could happen. – Jason Chen

Bionic feet [New Scientist via Oh Gizmo]

Here's what I recall about it. He was approached by Darpa to develop the worlds best prosthetic arm. Our men and women wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve it. We owe it to them.

The General from Darpa gave Kamen basically this blue sky order: I want an arm that's so precise that a person could pick up a grape or a raisin and without looking be able to tell the difference.

At first Dean begged off. It was too hard, it was too resource intensive, DEKA had a lot of other projects on the table. But Dean said he'd go to military hospitals and meet with the people. He met with combat wounded and was so inspired by them and their courage in meeting the challenges of life missing one or two arms that he decided they'd give it the best shot they could.

And so began DEKA's attempt to make the worlds best prosthetic limb, and do it with a very short timetable, to get it to the people who would need it.

Next Dean talked about control for this arm. He talked about brain implants and how bad an idea that was, going inside someone's skull. But then he talked about stem-cell research, and making a small implant that wouldn't be in the brain, but somewhere else in the body, maybe in the shoulder. Something that would be self-contained and communicate with the arm wirelessly. He named a research team at a big university, I forget which one. They were working on the stem-cell part of it. But, he cautioned, it may not work. The stem-cell research might not work, or it might not work in time to put it in this arm. But clearly this was the key to two-way neural contact. Control AND feeling.

So if that didn't work, or not in time, they had a number of other control schemes that they were looking at, and they were all better than the current standard.

At this point, Dean described what current motorized limbs were like. They strapped against a shoulder, and if they moved at all, they're controlled by kind of jamming the opposing shoulder which pulls the strapped limb so that a button gets pressed on it. If they're motorized they have a kind of a hook, or in some cases a cosmetic hand.

These hands are kind of one-size or a couple sizes and a couple of skin colors fit all.

So the first thing on Dean's list was that these would be the best looking prosthetic arms ever. Number one, these arms would match the person. And this would be achieved by taking a cyberscan of the other arm and making an exact mirror image. With nails, skin tone, size, bone size, everything matching. If the person didn't have another arm, a match would be found.

The next thing to tackle would be movement. From the looks of the video, this is coming along nicely. I wonder what the control scheme actually is on this video. I don't know. But I do know that they're shooting the moon.

And I don't think there was a dry eye while he was describing this to us. It was like watching the impossible become real.

Thanks for the update, tipster. – Jason Chen