Unico Armonico / Lower-limb robotic prosthetic system

The loss of a limb is always the consequence of a painful event. Impairment is a permanent physical state, which starts also with a significant mental state: a strong trauma, which needs time to be assimilated by the subject who suffers it. When we were asked by the Italian Institute of Technology and INAIL to create the design for an ankle and knee prostheses, we wanted to start by finding a concrete answer to the following question: how can aesthetics contribute to the recovery of the trauma suffered by a person who loses a limb? To try to answer this question, 21AM conducted a design process involving all the expertise in robotics & cognitive ergonomics of the Rehab Technologies Lab at the Italian Institute of Technology. UNICO (knee) and ARMONICO (ankle) are a lower-limb robotic prosthetic system, currently existing as TRL7 prototype, clinically tested, whose design is inspired by the "uncanny valley" hypothesis from Professor Masahiro Mori. The result is a perfect balance between an anatomically credible volume and overtly artificial elements. UNICO and ARMONICO are functionally characterized by a hybrid system that allows both prostheses to be used in two parallel modes, depending on the needs. Through the button on the knee, the user can easily access the “driving mode”, disabling the robotic function. Furthermore, working on both prostheses, UNICO and ARMONICO can work together to improve the person's movement capabilities, coupling during all walking & stairs scenarios. Currently, the ankle ARMONICO, being in an advanced state of design, is also waterproof thanks to an innovative inverted joint that closes the shell hermetically.