title: Virtual prototyping of a semi-active transfemoral prosthetic leg.
abstract: This article presents a virtual prototyping study of a semi-active lower limb prosthesis to improve the functionality of an amputee during prosthesis-environment interaction for level ground walking. Articulated ankle-foot prosthesis and a single-axis semi-active prosthetic knee with active and passive operating modes were considered. Data for level ground walking were collected using a photogrammetric method in order to develop a base-line simulation model and with the hip kinematics input to verify the proposed design. The simulated results show that the semi-active lower limb prosthesis is able to move efficiently in passive mode, and the activation time of the knee actuator can be reduced by approximately 50%. Therefore, this semi-active system has the potential to reduce the energy consumption of the actuators required during level ground walking and requires less compensation from the amputee due to lower deviation of the vertical excursion of body centre of mass.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Design, Robotics and Optimisation (iDRO), School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: Zhen Wei
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Lui
authors.affiliation: Institute of Design, Robotics and Optimisation (iDRO), School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK Mechanical Engineering, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohammed I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Awad
authors.affiliation: Institute of Design, Robotics and Optimisation (iDRO), School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK A.Abouhossein@leeds.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abouhossein
authors.affiliation: Institute of Design, Robotics and Optimisation (iDRO), School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: Abbas A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Dehghani-Sanij
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Messenger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001186:Artificial Limbs; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010780:Photogrammetry; D011474:Prosthesis Design / Q000379:methods*; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Virtual prototyping; dynamic modelling; human gait; transfemoral prosthesis