'GROUNDBREAKING'

Mind-Controlled Bionic Leg Now Exists

Will help millions of amputees.

A 32-year-old man who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident is now the guinea pig for a new brain-controlled bionic leg. The leg "allows people to seamlessly transition between walking along level ground and going up and down stairs and slopes," biomedical engineer at RIC Levi Hargrove said. When you think you want to do something, the brain signal travels down the spinal cord and through peripheral nerves and is picked up by electrodes in the bionic leg. The cost of the bionic leg has not been decided on, but will hopefully be available to the more than one million amputees across the country in three to five years.