The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) located in Laurel Maryland recently licensed Large Motor Control (LMC) software to HDT Robotics. The agreement grants HDT the right to incorporate the software into robotic limbs that the company intends to sell in the commercial market.
The LMC software was originally developed for the Defense Advanced Research Project
Agency’s “Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009” (RP 2009) program. This program was an APL-led effort that developed the Modular Prosthetic Limb (MPL), an advanced upper-extremity prosthesis that promises to restore full motor and sensory capability to upper extremity amputees.
The MPL is currently being used in a non-human primate clinical trial that includes LMC software in the shoulder and elbow joints as well as to control wrist movements. “The software controls the motors in the arm that allows prosthetic users to use the mechanical upper arm to perform everyday tasks such as picking up an object or opening a door,” explains Kapil Katyal, a biomedical software systems engineer in APL’s National Security Technology Department.
“We are pleased to have a long standing relationship with Johns Hopkins APL and to have been a part of the DARPA Revolutionizing Prosthetics project where the technology was developed, reports Tom Van Doren, Chief Operating Officer at HDT Robotics. “Our continued partnership with APL will enable HDT to bring products to market quickly.”
For more information, email Paulette Campbell at Paulette.Campbell@jhuapl.edu.
