Today there is no such thing as a fully motorized, user-actuated shoulder prosthesis.
For their Major Qualifying Project, Colleen Fox '97, an electrical engineering major from Fairbanks, Alaska, Nicole Robert '97, an engineering physics major from Webster, Mass., and Jason Wening '97, a mathematical sciences major from Jefferson City, Mo., set for themselves an especially challenging goal-the development of a prototype electronic control unit that will allow an amputee to simultaneously execute motions in more than one joint of a motorized prosthesis. Each student brought to the project his or her special area of expertise. In addition, Wening, a double leg amputee, provided insights that only the physically challenged can offer. We used a motion algorithm based on the models from Phase 1 to transform input signals into output signals that drive the motors of the prosthesis. As an added challenge, the students had to consider the fact that the motors put out a certain torque in order to move the arm in specific patterns.