New World Prosthetic Prototypes, Renderings, Technology featured in Popular Science
August 14, 2007
Fredericksburg, VA - After 18 months of engineering and industrial design work, New World’s contributions to robotic prototypes, renderings, and technology are now featured in the September 2007 issue of Popular Science. One rendering showcases the complete prosthetic arm – from the shoulder to the forearm down to the hand. Another reveals details of the extrinsic hand, featuring pressure sensors and articulating fingers. A third graphic exhibits the robotic hand gripping a ball.
New World is proud to participate with other international technology leaders, including Otto Bock Healthcare Products, Chicago PT, and the Biomechatronics Development Laboratory of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, and Van Doren Designs, on the ground-breaking Revolutionizing Prosthetics Program 2009 under the direction of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). “The article in Popular Science summarizes what the program is all about. The detailed graphics accurately resemble the working prototype limb we use in our testing laboratory everyday,” says Tom Van Doren of New World, lead engineer for development of the Prototype 2 limb on the Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 Program. The JHU/APL RP2009 team brings together the skills from many different organizations and disciplines to address this significant challenge within a highly aggressive four year timeframe.
The program, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is initially for the benefit of our returning soldiers and aims to develop an arm that will mimic the movement of a natural limb and allow the amputee to have a sense of touch, temperature, and spatial location. The goals of the program are to design a prosthetic arm that weighs about 7 pounds, has 27 degrees of freedom, lifts 50 pounds, types on a keyboard, and is FDA approved. This revolutionary prosthetic arm will ultimately be neurally controlled by the amputee and will imitate a human arm almost perfectly in terms of size, weight and appearance.
A web version of the Popular Science article, "Bionic Made Better," can be found at www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/5dfc3bd0efe84110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html.
More information about Popular Science can be found at www.popsi.com.
More information about the Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 Program is available at www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2007/070426.asp.
More information about JHU/APL is available at www.jhuapl.edu.
More information about Otto Bock Healthcare Products is available at www.ottobock.com.
More information about Chicago PT is available at www.chicagopt.com.
More information about Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago is available at www.ric.org.
More information about Van Doren Designs is available at www.vandorendesigns.com.
About New World
New World Associates, Inc. is a privately-held engineering and product development firm located in historic Fredericksburg, Virginia. Established in 1996, the Company provides world-class engineering and product development services to customers in the commercial, military, and Homeland Security markets. New World has built core competencies in chemical-biological air filtration systems, survivable military vehicles, advanced prosthetics, and packaging of electronic and electromechanical systems.
The company has a reputation for delivering customer satisfaction through the innovative fusion of expertise and technology. The Company operates under a quality management system compliant with ISO 9001:2000.
Contact
Dr. Tom Van Doren at 540.373.1435 or via our website, www.newworldassociates.com
New World Associates, Inc., 641 Prince Edward Street, Fredericksburg, VA 22401