Bionic man legs it up skyscraper

Zac Vawter (C) and his father John Vawter watch as best friend Michael Jacobson does a head stand...
Zac Vawter (C) and his father John Vawter watch as best friend Michael Jacobson does a head stand after Zac climbed to the top of Chicago's 103-storey Willis Tower using the world's first neural-controlled bionic leg. REUTERS/John Gress
Research scientists Levi Hargrove (L) and Annie Simon watch as Vawter tests the leg before...
Research scientists Levi Hargrove (L) and Annie Simon watch as Vawter tests the leg before starting the climb. REUTERS/John Gress

A 31-year-old amputee has made medical history by climbing 103 storeys to the Skydeck of Chicago's Willis Tower with his state-of-the-art bionic leg.

Researchers at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago equipped Zac Vawter with the prosthetic limb after he lost his right leg in a 2009 motorcycle accident.

Their design allows him to control the leg with his thoughts, a groundbreaking medical achievement that's been years in the making.

"The first time that we went up and down stairs was a little clunky and not particularly smooth," said Vawter, a software engineer from Yelm, Wash. "Now I'm comfortable taking a hand off of the railing."

The climb, called SkyRise Chicago, was the bionic limb's first public appearance and its most gruelling test yet, said lead researcher Levi Hargrove.

About 2700 people were registered to climb alongside him during the event, which doubled as a fundraiser for the institute.

Hargrove said the leg responds to electrical impulses from the muscles in Vawter's upper leg, including his rewired hamstring. That's where the surgeon who amputated his leg reattached the dangling nerves that previously carried signals past his knee.

The procedure, known as targeted muscle reinnervation, allowed Hargrove and his team at the institute's Center for Bionic Medicine to tap into the preserved neural signals to control the prosthetic limb.

"He just thinks about moving his ankle," Hargrove said as an example. "He thinks about doing those movements, and the signals travel down the nerves and are redirected on to hamstring muscle. The body doesn't know that the ankle is not contracting. It is very intuitive for him."

That the US Department of Defense is funding the five-year, $8-million research project hints at the bionic leg's potential. Hargrove said injured veterans who lost legs in combat have much to gain from the new technology.

Although bionic arms have been available for several years, their lower-limb equivalents won't be on the market for at least a few more. Having finished the climb, Vawter now has to return the leg to researchers, who will work to fine-tune its steering.

Hargrove said safety was his top concern and the largest hurdle to overcome before the leg coul be sold commercially. A malfunctioning leg could cause its wearer to stumble, or worse -- fall down a flight of stairs.

"We have to make sure our system is really safe and robust to prevent those sorts of injuries," Hargrove said. "It'll be a few years."

 

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