6 amazing things scientists and doctors are doing with smartphones

1. Artificial limbs from smartphone parts

After seven years of hard work, Vanderbilt University researchers have created a prosthetic leg using smartphone innovation. Not only does the leg weigh less than most lower limbs, it has the ability to use computers, sensors, monitors and battery technology to better power the knee and ankle joints in unison.

Through sensors, the leg can sense slopes and avoids obstructions in order to optimise balance. By using microprocessors, collected data predicts the persons intended actions and prompts the limb to respond.

A US company called Touch Bionics is now using the same advanced technology that power modern smartphones to power a growing wave of next-gen prosthetics: i-Limbs. As such limbs have been made public less than a year ago, fewer than 50 people in the US have one. Incredibly, as smartphones become faster and more efficient, so do prosthetics.

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By Shané Schutte

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