Adapting Cyborg Knee

This prothestic knee uses sensors to adapt to the wearer's walking pattern, to help emulate how a real leg would operate. Very cool medical tech.

The "Rheo Knee," [has] built-in sensors that can measure how far the knee is bent, as well as the amount of force the user applies to it while walking – a computer chip then analyses user's walk and continually adapts the movement and resistance of the knee accordingly.

"The Rheo knee has an adaptiveness that's both immediate and very rapid, and also an adaptiveness that's more longer term," Herr explains. "The knee has the ability to adapt step to step, from minute to minute, from hour to hour."

[ Link via engadget ]