Prosthetic leg controlled by thought

After losing his right leg in a motorbike accident four and a half years ago, Zac Vawter was fitted with an artificial leg.

Vawter happened to be the first lucky person to be selected to install a special mechanical foot model, using nerve signals from the upper leg muscles to control his knees and ankles. Developed by scientists at the Chicago Rehabilitation Institute (USA), this is the world's first prosthetic model that can be controlled by thought.

Mechanical foot pattern allows patients to move on stairs easily.(Photo: NEUROGADGET)

When Vawter thinks about moving the legs, nerve signals are transmitted from the spine to the peripheral nerves. At the leg of the leg, neural signals will be retrieved with electrode sensors, and a series of sensors recoil from the upper leg, on the other leg and inside the prosthetic leg, giving issue a series of information, which is then analyzed by a complex software to guess how Vawter wants to move. Thus, this foot pattern can maintain a stable gait no matter which terrain.

The head of the project, biomedical engineer Levi Hargrove, said: 'This is a big breakthrough, allowing people who lose their legs to move smoothly from walking on the surface to going up and down stairs. or up - down, " Vawter said with his normal prosthetic limbs, he had to drag them along, but with this new type of mechanical leg, he could walk naturally.

Until now, only the artificial hand controlled by thought was possible.This neural signaling mechanical leg project can make a huge difference for those who lose their legs. Currently, this foot model is still a prototype, the expected price can range from 20,000 to 120,000 USD.