Researchers at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago are developing a bionic leg that can read the operator’s mind.
Even when a limb is missing, the brain still sends signals to it as if it was still there. This phenomenon results in “phantom limb,” or the feeling the appendage is still attached to the body. It also provides the artificial leg with the brain signals needed to function, Time Tech reports.
Simply by thinking, the operator of the mind-controlled bionic leg can articulate the knee joint and ankle joint.
Currently, the mind-controlled leg can mimic the user’s natural stride, as well as allow them to traverse stairs and moderate slopes. Soon, it may allow them run.
Research scientist Levi Hargrove, PhD, hopes to make the ground breaking bionic leg available to over 1,000 amputees from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars within the next three to five years.
“The wounded warriors – they’ve given so much, and anything we can do to help them do a little bit better, or a lot better, that’s what we’re trying to do,” Hargrove said.
[ Time Tech ]
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