Motorfoot
From: Technology Review - December 2001 - page 18

Stroke victims and other people suffering from "drop foot" - a condition in
which the front of the foot can't be controlled - generally wear stiff braces
to keep their afflicted feet from flopping and dragging when they walk. But a
device under development could give them a robotic boost for improved
mobility. Instructor Hugh Herr and graduate student Joaquin Blaya of a joint
MIT-Harvard program in health technology, together with electrical engineer
Gill Pratt of Olin College in Needham, MA, built an ankle brace with a motor
that raises and lowers the front of the foot as the heel strikes the ground
and lifts again, providing more natural movement and a reduced risk of
falling. The battery-powered device, developed at MIT's Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory, uses algorithms modeled on "biological information
about how a normal ankle is controlled," Herr says. The first tests of the
contraption on real patients are expected to begin late this year. 

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/prototype11201.asp
http://web.mit.edu/jblaya/www/project/
