Slashdot Mirror
Climbing 103 Floors On a 'Bionic' Leg
An anonymous reader writes "4 years ago I read about experimental targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) surgery on Slashdot. 3 years ago I crashed my motorcycle and had my leg amputated — at which time I had TMR done. Today I climbed 103 floors of the Willis Tower in Chicago with a experimental prosthetic using TMR. Thanks, Slashdot."
Determination, Strength, and Cool Factor.
You rock dude, I tip my hat.
Thank you anonymous reader. No one could rightfully call you an anonymous coward.
If you make them I'll kick you with my new leg. Also, none of those, I'd give up my left arm to be amdiextrous jokes either. Those are just not funny.
Your courage and determination is inspiring. Wish you the best.
That must have felt good...
WOW!
You were in the stairwell of a major landmark building, with a strange device strapped to your body? You must be a terrorist.
Congrats!
Out of curiosity if you don't mind the (potentially awkward) question, how does it work/feel when you control a bionic leg? Scanning the wiki article, I sounds like it's basically plugged into the nervous system at where the amputation took place, and you had to retrain the neural system so the bionic limb responds accurately? (Complete with some level of sensory feedback?)
It's wonderful to read such a positive and inspiring story. Bravo!
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
Contratulations! :-)
The force IS with you!
The man has a bionic leg!
signed: sheldon cooper.
Wondering if the data collected from this cyborg (yes dude you're now a cyborg), could also be useful as training data for independent robotics.
Have you ever thought of open sourcing your leg data :) Could be a huge contribution to OSS robotics. Maybe get other's with prosthetics to contribute as well; arm, hands, feet.
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
Yet more proof that Cybernetics don't make people less human, they make them More Human.
I, for one, welcome our new Cyborg overlords.
Saw an article about your planned attempt yesterday, happy to see it went well. Congratulations on a serious dose of grit and perseverance. Sorry to hear that it's not yet marketable--any clue how long? Not an amputee myself, but immense respect and sympathy for you guys...
Is that taller than the Sears Tower?
It's important to clarify that this was a neural controlled bionic leg. Coming from the Chicago Suburbs, I was greeted pleasantly by this news this morning, as well as by the news that Senator Kirk was able to complete the same feat after his severe stroke in January.
Looks like it works pretty well.
Can you publish more details?
Is it running with your balance system or if it has supplemental gyros.
What improvements are you planning next.
If you can get control information from the TMR to the leg,
I wonder if a couple of other signal paths are also possible.
1) From the other leg to the new one to help coordinate the gait.
2) From the new leg to you to give you more feedback on what it is doing.
Keep up the good work. It wlll benefit many.
Like many others, I'd like tosay what a fantastic effort you have put into your own recovery. A great example to us all. Well done Sir !
Man with bionic leg climbs Chicago skyscraper
Kudos to you for all you have achieved but I gotta admit the news headline had me thinking you were on the outside of the building like a human fly......next challenge maybe?
This is the best news I've read in a while. Congrats dude. I'm guessing we all know where you now stand in the future eugenics vs cybernetics debate.
Man with bionic leg climbs Chicago skyscraper What I pictured in my mind is not quite the reality of it. Think bionic commando meets king kong. Very awesome achievement, I think this proves your in better shape than the majority of the country.
Work for Pay and Pay for Freedom
I'm curious as to how the neural interface works. The CNN article was pretty vague (saying something like "He thinks it and it moves"). I imagine there is a lot more to it than that. Most interfaces I've seen in the past that called themselves a "neural interface" were actually just glorified physical interfaces (controlled by twitching muscles in the upper limb or something like that). Is this thing actually connected to his brain, or at least to his nervous system?
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Who's Willis?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Great job man! I was there this weekend too and saw you at the top. I had a question actually about the shoe you use on your other leg. It had a huge sole (looked a lot like a Hoka brand trail shoe). Is that what you wear normally or did you specifically wear that for the stair climb?
Cheers from Colombia!
No, sir, thank you.
I have a daughter and try all the time to convey the idea that the world does not exist for us to grab the opportunities; on the contrary, we live in a continuum, being helped and helping (and the latter is the hard part to get, it seems).
Now you go, amidst a tragedy, and choose to help them make the lives of others better. I want to see my daughter explain the logic of someone screwed making the world a better place.
Perhaps one does not need legs to walk, just higher ideals.
You know this how?
How ironic that He's "anonymous reader" on /. but Zac Vawter in the article.
Nevermind the lack of a name on the submission, this technology is a cool thing for all future amputees.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
As someone who has a friend who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident and now has a prosthesis, and another friend with a nonfunctional arm from the same cause, I find your comment highly offensive.
Free Martian Whores!
I'd say you have Dr. Kuiken and the bionic research group at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago to Thank. Dr. Kuiken is the best. Period. You can read all about him and his team at www.ric.org. Try not to slashdot em. They are doing some of the most exciting bionic and prosthetic reseach. My ambition is to work for Dr. Kuiken some day.
What would Richard Feynman do, if he were here right now? He'd do some math and he'd follow through!
"Stuff that matters" has never been more true! I applaud your nerve in innovating with this prosthetic device, as well as your accomplishment!
And I have to ask: when you were climbing, did your leg make the ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta sound like Steve Austin's did in the 6 Million Dollar Man show? :-)
John
5 + 3 = 8. Beauitful underlying symmetry. Somebody better call Astrid Farnsworth at FRINGE Division. We have a potential anomaly at the Tower! Immediate evac and search.
What would Richard Feynman do, if he were here right now? He'd do some math and he'd follow through!
Morning radio station here has a good news segment every weekday. Heard your story on it this morning on my drive to work! Congratulations!
Congratulations man. I ran it yesterday too and saw you at the top. I was gonna go congratulate you but there were a bunch of people around, lol. Nice job!
Well, your emotional offense would be expected; but is it rational? That is, is it completely true and obvious that someone would be a dumbass and take a curve way too fast for conditions or for their bike (hint: cruisers don't turn)? I see plenty of people riding in shirts and t-shirts with baseball caps at 80-100mph on the highway and, while I'm sure if one of your friends lost a limb doing some dumbshit thing like this you'd be upset about it, he'd still be a dumbshit.
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I once walked down from about the half way point and my legs were sore for three days. Making it to the top is an accomplishment that no one can ever take away.
Insurance is a share in a risk pool. Yes, you pay for stupid self-destruction sometimes. If you don't like that, you should find someone who won't insure morons, and sign up with them.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt in presuming you would qualify for such.
If you think of this in comparison to other medical treatments, while it may not be an outpatient procedure, you can probably expect to be healed relatively quickly. Contrast this with cancer or some other long-term illness. Sure, the robotics might be expensive, but do you think MRIs are cheap? You've probably paid for a ton of those.
These are arguments that you can use to salve your wounded ego, but you do seem to have a more fundamental misanthropy problem. Your first response to the good fortune of others should be happiness.
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
I would think going *down* 103 flights would be far more taxing on the leg and the owner, given the far higher decelerations involved. If this was done, forgive me for the glass half-empty 'tude. But if it was explicitly ruled out as part of the test, they're not done yet.
Seriously,dude...elevators!
I'm thinking about getting metal legs. It's a risky operation, but it'll be worth it.
Due to back and shoulder problems my right arm may be near useless when I'm about seventy....BUT....technology may make "amputate and replace with appropriate rewiring" a DESIRABLE option by then.
Some injured G.I.s already opt to have their damaged limbs removed then move on (literally) using prosthetics.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Idiots can't help being idiots. Nobody's perfect.
Free Martian Whores!
Yes but that's not the point. The point is that, while some people do lose limbs to legit motorcycle accidents and other legit crap (including crap like momentary non-routine distraction), a lot of people are just morons that only survive on the grace of being too stupid to get their head into position to be taken off. Regardless, people who know folks who get injured will empathize and find offense at the concept of anyone getting injured in a similar way because they're a moron--regardless of whether or not their friends got injured exactly because they're morons or just for bad luck. Thus the question arises: is our children rational?
Also harleys don't turn that well.
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