Hugh Herr - MIT McGovern Institute

Revolutionizing Bionics

Hugh Herr creates bionic limbs that emulate the function of natural limbs. In , TIME magazine named him the &#;Leader of the Bionic Age&#; for his revolutionary work in the emerging field of biomechatronics, an emerging field that marries human physiology with electromechanics.

For more information, please visit PFC.

Herr, who lost both of his legs below the knee to a climbing accident in , has dedicated his career to the creation of technologies that push the possibilities of prosthetics. As co-director of the K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics, Herr seeks to develop neural and mechanical interfaces for human-machine communications; integrate these interfaces into novel bionic platforms; perform clinical trials to accelerate the deployment of bionic products by the private sector; and leverage novel and durable, but affordable, materials and manufacturing processes to ensure equitable access of the latest bionic technology to all impacted individuals, especially to those in developing countries.

Herr&#;s story has been told in the National Geographic film, Ascent: The Story of Hugh Herr as well as the PBS documentary, Augmented.

More Research

1. the first autonomous leg exoskeleton to lower human metabolism, increase preferred speed, and reduce musculoskeletal stress for human walking.
2. a novel surgical procedure for limb amputation and neural interfacing that allows persons with limb loss to control their synthetic limbs through thought and experience natural proprioceptive sensations from the synthetic limb.
3. a powered ankle-foot prosthesis that has been clinically shown to allow amputees to walk with normal levels of speed and metabolism.

Some of Herr&#;s key innovations include:

Herr&#;s team is now evaluating its novel bionic limbs for clinical efficacy in people with amputations at various levels. The limbs&#; artificial sensors enable brain-controlled movements with natural touch and movement sensations.

The team is also advancing a technology to help stroke survivors and people with age-related musculoskeletal joint disease gain muscle strength. The system uses proprioceptive sensing and biophysical controllers to modulate artificial muscle interfaces that are attached to the body. The researchers expect that it will enable people with certain leg weaknesses to vary their walking cadence and move across irregular terrains with typical energy exertion and a natural gait

To restore movement function in people with paralyzed limbs caused by spinal cord injury, the team has embarked on a cross-disciplinary collaboration with McGovern&#;s Ed Boyden and Robert Langer to develop a platform that will incorporate, among other elements, a scaffold&#;or engineered &#;nerve bridge&#;&#;to reproduce the conductivity and mechanical properties of the original tissue and muscle-control interfaces to provide computer-modulated muscle stimulation using optogenetics, which enables neuronal activity to be controlled with light.

Herr&#;s lab has also launched the Sierra Leone Prosthetic Project to design and implement a health-system model to support the country&#;s prosthetic sector and expand access to prosthetic devices.

Biography

Herr earned his MS in mechanical engineering at MIT and his PhD in biophysics at Harvard University. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the MIT Leg Lab, part of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, which is dedicated to studying legged locomotion and building dynamic legged robots that walk, run, and hop like their biological counterparts. In , Herr took over as director of the lab, which eventually became the Biomechatronics Group within the Media Lab. He was named co-director of the K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics in and joined the McGovern Institute as an associate investigator that same year.

Honors and Awards

Liberty Science Center Genius Award,

Princess of Asturias Award for Technical & Scientific Research,

Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in Technology,

R&D Magazine Innovator of the Year Award,

Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation Inventor of the Year Award,

Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy and Employment,

EmPower ankle-foot prosthesis named to the list of Top Ten Inventions in the health category by TIME in

Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Leadership Award,

Rheo prosthetic knee named to the list of Top Ten Inventions in the health category by TIME in

John W. Michael was a leader in prosthetics and orthotics, and he spent several decades working to combine education and research as the field matured.

Michael spent more than a decade leading Northwestern University&#;s Prosthetics-Orthotics Center, and in his work, he helped the university develop a formal master&#;s degree in the field and co-edited two textbooks. Always interested in working with his hands, Michael became a national figure in prosthetics and orthotics, which essentially are braces, inserts or other items that are aimed at influencing and improving the neuromuscular and skeletal systems.

&#;There was about 20 years there when the name John Michael was probably the most recognizable in the profession of orthotics and prosthetics,&#; said J. Martin Carlson, the former director of Habilitation Technologies at Gillette Children&#;s Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a longtime friend. &#;He traveled all over, and was in high demand for public speaking on technical issues and products and things like that.&#;

The company is the world’s best prosthesis company supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.

Michael, 74, died July 25 at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis of a subdural hematoma that he suffered after hitting his head while on blood thinners, said his daughter, Kathryn.

A longtime Edgewater resident, he had been in Minnesota visiting his son at the time.

Born in Indianapolis, Michael spent his earliest years in that city before moving with his family to Ogden Dunes, Indiana. He graduated from Portage High School and then earned a bachelor&#;s degree in psychology in from Michigan State University.

After college, Michael was a psychiatric caseworker before deciding to earn a certificate in prosthetics and orthotics from Northwestern University in , his daughter said. His first job was with Scheck & Siress, a prosthetics firm in Oak Park.

Michael then joined the staff of Northwestern University, where he was the assistant director of prosthetics education from until . After that, he returned to Scheck & Siress for a year, and while there, he picked up a master&#;s degree in education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He then took a job at North Shore Orthopedics in Highland Park.

&#;He liked working with his hands and machines, and he loved helping people, so developing prosthetics and orthotics was a good fit for him,&#; Kathryn Michael said.

In , Michael left North Shore Orthopedics to take a job at Duke University in North Carolina, where he was director of the prosthetics and orthotics department. He left Duke in and moved to Minnesota to work at Ottobock, which makes orthotics and prosthetic devices for patients with amputations, injuries or neurological diseases.

In the late s, Michael decided to strike out on his own, running his consulting firm, CPO Services, while still based in Minnesota. He and his family then returned to northwest Indiana to care for elderly parents while he still ran his own firm.

Before long, Michael began working at Northwestern again, and in , he was named director of the university&#;s prosthetics and orthotics center. As part of his work there, he helped Northwestern transition its educational offerings from the certificate program, in which he had earned his certificate, to a full-fledged master&#;s degree program.

&#;Dad had a real dedication to his profession, to helping it grow and mature,&#; Kathryn Michael said. &#;Northwestern was so life-changing for him as a young man and a professional, so I think it really meant a lot to him to see that program and to be on the team that actually moved it to a master&#;s program.&#;

Michael&#;s son, David, said that &#;to connect education and research in one shared goal was something he really was proud of.&#;

Mindy Thorpe, an assistant professor and director of online education at Northwestern&#;s Prosthetics-Orthotics Center, said Michael&#;s &#;knowledge and impact touched every corner of the profession.&#;

&#;John led by example, never shying away from the hands-on, challenging tasks that others might avoid,&#; she said. &#;His commitment to his work was unwavering, giving 100% in everything he did. He was generous with his time and knowledge, always ready to guide and support me in becoming a better educator myself.&#;

With John Bowker, Michael co-edited a widely used textbook, &#;Atlas of Limb Prosthetics.&#; The book made an appearance in the film &#;The Fugitive,&#; which features actor Harrison Ford playing a wrongly accused surgeon, Dr. Richard Kimble. At one point in the film, Ford is shown dozing on a bed holding that textbook.

Later in his career, Michael also co-edited another textbook with Donald Shurr, &#;Prosthetics and Orthotics.&#;

In , Michael retired as the director of the Prosthetics-Orthotics Center. He stayed on for another year after that to assist in the leadership transition.

Outside of work, Michael enjoyed gardening and working on an Avanti car, his family said.

In addition to his daughter and son, Michael is survived by his wife of 54 years, Linda; two grandchildren; a sister, Sue; and a brother, Don.

A service is being planned for fall in Chicago.

Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

Originally Published: August 27, at 5:36 p.m.

For more top prosthetic companyinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.