First Thought-Controlled Bionic Leg Revealed

A team of researchers at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) has revealed clinical applications for the world’s first thought-controlled bionic leg—a significant milestone for lower limb amputees in the rapidly growing field of bionics. RIC's Center for Bionic Medicine developed a system to use neural signals to safely improve limb control of a bionic leg. The leg features intelligent engineering, meaning that it can learn and perform activities including seamless transitions between sitting, walking, ascending, and descending stairs and ramps and repositioning the leg while seated. This vastly improves upon prosthetic legs that only use robotic sensors and remote controls and do not allow for intuitive thought control of the prosthetic, the researchers say.