Here we see the so-called prosthesis.
And is this prosthesis directly derived from this device, or how do
you develop it?
The concepts are closely related.
That means it's about elastic drives.
That means the motors are supported by viscous components, which is
now reproduced here in the sense of the Achilles tendon by this
spring.
And the special thing about this object, that is, we call it the
orthoprosthesis, is that the stiffness of the spring, that is, the
hardness of the spring, can be adjusted.
There is data that we have collected from computer models, where we
have found that it is necessary or good for the motor in terms of
energy consumption when stiffness is adjusted.
That means at higher G-speeds you need a higher hardness, at lower G
-speeds, according to our models, a lower one.
And with this application we want to check, so to speak, whether this
is not only the case in theory, but also in practice.
The interesting thing about the application is, many would perhaps
identify it as a prosthesis at first, because a prosthetic foot is
installed, so to speak, with a kind of actuator, which, like the human
calf muscle, can drive the prosthetic foot, so to speak.
The interesting thing about this approach is that we have made the
system testable for healthy people.
That means that a healthy foot comes into this orthesis, that is, a
healthy person can stand in it and can test a kind of prosthetic foot.
It has the advantage that the scientist, that is, in this case my
person, can test it live, so to speak.
That means I could now adjust something at the control and test
directly afterwards how the effect is on the system.
I thus bypass the possibilities of having to invite an amputee or the
case of an amputee.