Toward the Development of User-Centered Neurointegrated Lower Limb Prostheses

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Prosthetics and Orthotics
• Rehabilitation Technology

Background:

• Recent years have seen significant progress in lower-limb prosthesis technology.
• Innovations aim to address limitations of earlier prosthetic designs.
• Despite improvements, current prostheses do not fully replicate the capabilities of a biological limb.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the current state of lower-limb prosthesis technology.
• To identify deficiencies in prosthetic components relative to user requirements.
• To outline research directions for enhancing prosthetic functionality and control.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of recent advancements in lower-limb prosthetics.
• Analysis of existing prosthetic components and their limitations.
• Identification of research gaps and future opportunities in design and control.

Main Results:

• Current lower-limb prostheses, while improved, exhibit notable deficiencies.
• Key areas requiring enhancement include design, control systems, and user integration.
• A significant gap persists between the performance of advanced prostheses and healthy limb function.

Conclusions:

• Further research is crucial to overcome the remaining limitations in lower-limb prostheses.
• A roadmap is presented focusing on patient-centric issues for next-generation devices.
• The ultimate goal is the development of highly functional, neurally-integrated lower limb prostheses.