Logan students spend year building special prosthetic leg

A group of Logan High School students spent the entire year creating a prosthetic limb, which simultaneously charges while the person walks.

The InvenTeam talked with members in the industry, who told stories of patients not being able to enjoy long trips outdoors for fear of losing power.

Logan teacher Steve Johnston said the class provides a unique opportunity.

“I try to always emphasize with the kids that we want to give them a unique engineering experience,” Johnston said. “We also want to make sure the item can help people in everyday life.”

The project faced several obstacles that the students had to overcome, including starting from scratch.

“We can’t test this on a human subject,” Johnston said. “We had to spend more time creating a tester to simulate the heel strike and foot motion to harvest energy from it.”

A bluetooth device in the leg allows a user to view the power remaining on their cellphone. The battery is charged by a person’s heel striking the ground.

A pair of engineers were brought in during the year to help students with the project.

The group will now give a presentation on their invention at the EurekaFest at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), as well as tour the area.