Randy Tipton served three tours in Afghanistan and one tour in Iraq with the Special Forces returning home safely only to have his left foot amputated in a motorcycle/car accident.
In 2005, Tipton retired from the Army. He held the rank of Sergeant First Class. While riding his motorcycle, Tipton was hit by a car, the driver had been talking on his cell phone. Tipton lost his leg as a result of that accident.
On Wednesday, February 16th, Tipton gave a demonstration of just how nicely the iWalk PowerFoot BiOM worked for him, as he walked down a hallway at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas. He is able to walk without a noticeable limp.
The iWalk PowerFoot BiOM uses microprocessors, sensors, a motor and a carbon-fiber spring all designed to help replace the action of the amputee's missing Achilles' tendon, ankle and calf muscle. Even better, the bionic foot can be adjusted by the user on a Droid smart phone, using Bluetooth technology to link them up.
According to Mark Benveniste, a prosthetist at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, the bionic foot is an "active foot" not just a "passive foot." "All other (prosthetic) feet are passive, meaning they may have a hinge to the ankle, but they aren't going to power you," Benveniste said. "This foot is an active foot."
The PowerFoot senses where it is in space, automatically adjusting to uneven ground like stairs or ramps, said Shane Namack, iWalk's vice president of sales.
"Also, it's reflexive, so the more he puts into it, the more energy he gets out of it," Namack explained. "Someone like Randy should be able to walk with the same energy expenditure as he did with two legs."
However, Tipton was skeptical of the PowerFoot when he first was told about it. After all it weighed over 4 lbs and he already had rejected another prosthetic because it was "too exhausting to lift." Tipton was able to receive the PowerFoot through the Veterans Administration (VA). "First word I said was, 'Wow' - for real," he said. "I haven't been able to walk like that since before I lost my leg, so it was an instant 'wow.' I think I said 'wow' about 40 times."
Instead of feeling like he was dragging his leg along with him, Tipton remarked that this new leg with the PowerFoot felt as if it had its own power. Through the use of biomimetic engineering (bionic and robotic combined), the limb uses electronics to copy the functions of the human leg, ankle and foot while being propelled with a motor (robotic) that acts as the lost muscles.
When Tipton gave his demonstration of the PowerFoot, he was only one of a select number of individuals to have received this limb. Currently there are only four places that even have the robotic foot, Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, DeBakey VA Hospital in Houston and two other military hospitals. While the manufacturer has set no retail price for this bionic limb, Shane Namack, iWalk's vice president of sales has said the limb could easily go for $50,000 or higher, while a more conventional advanced carbon-fiber prosthetic foot currently costs between $900 and $2,600.
"War is unfortunate, but most advances in technology come during wartime," Namack noted. The invention of this PowerFoot is the result of hard work by Hugh Herr, director of biomechatronics at MIT along with funding from the VA Department and the Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center. Herr himself, a double amputee, started iWalk in 2006 with venture capitalistic funding.
"This foot happens to be a quantum leap from all other feet. It is significantly, significantly different," Dr. Mark Beveniste, a prosthetist with the DeBakey VA, said. According to Tipton, stairs are no longer a problem either. He also found that walking up and down hills was easy to do now.
Tipton himself is currently in training to become a prosthetist, wanting to help others. "I understand the challenges probably better than anybody other than other amputees," Tipton said.
Beginning in April, the robotic foot will be made available to civilians. More information can be found by calling 1-800-989-9998.
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