Addition of a passive toe joint: considerations for passive and powered ankle-foot prosthesis design

Research and design of ankle-foot prostheses has largely focused on optimizing ankle function; however, the potential benefits of modifying the foot keel remain relatively unexplored. In particular, the addition of a toe joint has the potential to positively impact the gait biomechanics of prosthetic device users, and reduce the motor demands of powered prostheses. To fill key knowledge gaps, our overarching goal is to perform a series of experiments – using powered and passive prostheses – in which we systematically vary toe joint stiffness and quantify the biomechanical effects on activities of daily living (e.g., walking, stair ascent). This abstract details prosthetic hardware development and validation testing necessary to add a variable-stiffness toe joint into powered and passive prosthetic feet in order to carry out the proposed experiments.