WPI Gets $1M For Better Fake Limbs

Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute will get $1 million in federal and state grants to develop artificial limbs that act like the real thing, the university said.

The limbs would be permanently implanted and would mimic most natural movements of human arms and legs.

Ted Clancy, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at WPI, and Stephen Lambert, research associate professor with the university's Bioengineering Institute, will lead the research effort.

Clancy's lab will study how electronic signals control normal muscle activity so that information can be applied to the control of the prosthetics. Meanwhile, Lambert and his team will research the growth of neurons on artificial surfaces, attempting to develop technology that could link the artificial limbs with the nervous system.

Funding for the research comes primarily from a two-year, $860,000 grant from the U.S. Army's Military Amputee Research Program of the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center. Another $150,000 comes from the John Adams Innovation Institute, which is part of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.