Domestic Production of 'Bridge' for Cutting-Edge Technology Development to Enter the US Market

Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service Rehabilitation Engineering Research Institute "Technology Transfer of Rotary Hydraulic Hip Prosthesis"

State-of-the-art rotary hydraulic transfemoral prostheses, which will serve as the ‘legs’ for people with lower limb disabilities, are not only being domestically produced but are also poised to enter the U.S. market.

The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Institute of the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service (Chairman Park Jong-gil, Director Lee Seok-min) announced on the 10th that on the 9th, it signed a technology transfer agreement with ST&G USA Corporation (CEO Glenn Choi), a prosthetic and orthotic specialist company, for rotary hydraulic transfemoral prostheses (Normalock) and biomimetic ankle prostheses.

On the 9th, Seokmin Lee, Director of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Institute (second from the left), and Glenn Choi, CEO of ST&G Corporation (third from the left), signed a technology transfer agreement for biomimetic ankle brace technology.

Since 2022, the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Institute has been carrying out a national project funded by the Ministry of Health and Welfare titled ‘Development and Certification of Three Types of Leg Prostheses for Transfemoral Amputees and Establishment of Commercialization through Demonstration Systems,’ culminating in the development of rotary hydraulic transfemoral prostheses and biomimetic ankle prostheses.

The developed products are used to restore the function of the amputated leg when part of the leg above the knee is amputated, implementing knee and ankle functions to enable safe and comfortable walking.

Park Se-hoon, head of the Advanced Prosthetics Research Team and the project leader, introduced, “By utilizing a compact rotary hydraulic mechanism, smooth walking is realized, and to minimize frequent falls during walking, a locking mechanism using a four-bar link combination is applied, allowing easy walking not only on slopes but also on stairs.”

The products transferred through this technology meet the performance standards of the international standard (ISO 10328) and are smaller and lighter than foreign products, which is expected to have a significant effect on many elderly industrial accident disability patients.

Concept diagram of three types of affordable hip orthoses and core module localization.

Walking up stairs using a rotary hydraulic thigh orthosis.

ST&G USA Corporation aims to gradually enter the U.S. prosthetics and orthotics market by developing various derivative products based on the transferred technology and to secure competitiveness equal to the world’s top three major companies.

This technology transfer is expected to open an era in which products developed by the institute can enter the vast U.S. prosthetics and orthotics market.

The institute had previously transferred technology for ‘three types of affordable transfemoral prostheses and core modules’ on October 20.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.