From the Toronto Star article*
(*and picked up by 11 other publications, including Our Windsor, Cambridge Times, Kingston Region, The Record (Waterloo), Mississauga.com, Inside Ottawa Valley, Ottawa Community news, Inside Belleville, Inside Halton, Inside Brockville, and the Brampton Guardian)
Engineered by researchers in the Bloorview Research Institute at Toronto’s Holland Bloorview rehabilitation hospital and backed by Grand Challenges Canada, AT-Knee’s designers spent years studying how to make it as biomechanically efficient as possible, with a novel locking mechanism that mimics the stability of real knees.
While the trend in prosthetics has been toward high-tech robotics and motorization, LegWorks’ chief technology officer Jan Andrysek notes that the bulk of lower-limb amputees live in countries and communities where such expensive technology is out of reach.
“We came up with very simple concept that provided the function that we need,” said Andrysek. After rounds of clinical testing in Chile, Tanzania, Burma, Canada, and elsewhere, LegWorks is aiming for widespread adoption: “we’re trying to be everywhere.”
