Today we got a lamb that is missing it's right back leg, and because I am interested in this type of stuff I am thinking of making a prosthesis for it.
The lamb has a sort of mini-
back leg with only the upper part of the leg swinging as if it was walking.
The idea is to use EGC sensors to detect the use of the lambs muscles on its mini-leg and that way use servo motors to move a prosthetic leg
The prosthetic would use dampers to suppress the "damage" the hard would do to the area the prosthesis would be attached. It would also use rubber so it would not slide around on the floor.
QUESTIONS:
Where on the sheep should the prosthesis be attached?
How should the prosthesis be attached to the sheep?
Which materials should I use? (weight, quality etc.)
How should it be powered? Would it for example be possible to use solar power long-term or short-term rechargable batteries that would be replaced when it's fed?(every third hour)
Note: The lamb was born today and we don't know if it will survive the night, better photos of the leg etc. will be added later as the lamb is currently sleeping
Totally the wrong question! You must design the mechanism that servos can move, if that is your choice of moving. Just as important will be powering your device 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
How about something with a wheel... Along the lines of a dog-wheelchair but maybe with only one wheel?
And you might want some kind of suspension, -shock absorption, or spring.
I have a feeling that it's going to be very hard to make something motorized that can keep-up with the animal's speed and reactions. Motors can be fast (but servos usually aren't) and it would also have to start/stop/reverse instantly.
Yeah, after seeing it's movements, the prosthetic would've had to do a lot of movements quickly. Therefore a realistic approach would be to use a wheelchair type construction with a form of suspension to mimick the way their leg would move such as you said, but how would it lay down?
Good point, would it be possible to attach the sensors between hairs using the construction without using the typical large pad that the EGC sensor typically has somehow?
The lamb does not know, nor will ever know it is missing a leg.
A sheep sees it's world through smell, so if you go mucking around with the lamb, it's mother will reject it and you will have a 3-legged bummer lamb to care for.
Since the leg never existed, there is NO learned muscle memory to sense for with a EMG sensor.
Let nature take it's course. The lamb likely has other problems than just the missing leg.
We tend to believe "disabled" are missing out. They are not. I've seen guys get drubnk and eat popcorn with their feet... not out of choice. The lamb will do just fine as long as you treat it normally. My family gave a great life to plenty of runts and cripples from experimental farms (before they were dumped into the wood chipper), living in-doors until healthy, frolicking in spring, gorging in our harvest garden, and generating heaps of fertilizer that fed our garden. Yes, we ate them all, but they had a posh life and never knew they were runts/cripples.
