I did some experimental work a long time ago in connection with replacement hip joints.
Today’s invention is an alternative design, based on placing the cup part in the head of the femur and the ball component protruding from the pelvis (as shown on the right).
This might be advantageous for someone whose pelvis was much more frail and in need of reinforcement than their thigh bone, for example.
It also allows more space to insert some kind of spring-and-damper mechanism within the pelvic ball.
Good out of the box thinking!
One could create other degrees of freedom this way (more strict or loose) for the leg movement. Besides the reinforcement you stated I think one could improve the balance of a person by reorienting the joint.
Furthermore with a new joint it is easy to include some positional and force sensors that could be used for e.g. learning to walk again or just as a step counter when you exercise for the marathon 😉
Cool, thanks Rob,
I’m sending you a free ebook to say thanks for all your comments.
Cheers,
patrick
Thank you very much, I’ll “put” it under the Christmas tree 😉
Oops, that’s a new challenge!, how to put all the “virtual” presents in the internet era under the xmas tree.
Merry Christmas and a creative 2013!
Rob