RDS
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Mind over matter literally.
Zac Vawter's bionic leg lets him walk up stairs with ease. That's because it senses his brain's instructions and moves accordingly, something that no other prosthetic leg can do.
The leg is the first of its kind to respond accurately to its user's thoughts, according to a report published Sept. 26 in the New England Journal Of Medicine.
Vawter, now 32, was in a motorcycle accident in 2009. Doctors had to amputate his leg just above the knee.
He had heard about mind-controlled prosthetics, which had previously only been used with robotic arms. Legs are more problematic, because when they fail you are more likely to get badly injured, for instance, by falling down the stairs.
He asked about these new technologies and eventually became the "test-pilot" for a bionic leg created by Todd Kuiken's team at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. The project was partially funded by an $8 million grant from the U.S. Army.
Read more: Man Controls A Robotic Leg With His Mind - Business Insider