Application Granted: 1/28/2025
Inventors:
Joshua Pelz, Luca De Vivo, Falko Kuester, Herbert J. Barrack
This patent describes a 3D-printed, single-piece below-knee prosthetic leg designed to replace the traditional multi-component setup of socket, pylon, and foot. Using digital scans of a patient’s limb and software-based modeling, the device is customized and fabricated as a lightweight structure with an internal lattice and a flexible, multiaxial foot-ankle section that can store and release energy during walking. Its design allows different regions to have tailored stiffness, and parts like the socket can be adjusted after printing through reheating. The workflow is meant to be faster, less expensive, and more accessible than conventional prosthetic fabrication, while improving comfort, gait, and usability for patients in both high-resource and low-resource settings. This invention started as a student idea and was developed in part with funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology and US Army Research Office.
With support from the UC San Diego innovation ecosystem, the inventors founded the startup Limber Prosthetics (https://limberprosthetics.com/) which licensed the patent and is now commercializing the invention as the Unileg. In 2023, Limber captured the top award from the San Diego Angel Conference and received UC San Diego’s inaugural direct equity investment in a campus spinoff.
Watch on Facebook: “
Get to know UC San Diego Alumni-founded Limber Prosthetics.”
This feature has been brought to you by leading international law firm
Perkins Coie, a proud supporter of our innovation ecosystem.
