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.
Your courage and determination is inspiring. Wish you the best.
You were in the stairwell of a major landmark building, with a strange device strapped to your body? You must be a terrorist.
Which of his legs was bionically enhanced, his left, right or third?
Also, FWIW, I have both my legs and wouldn't make it up those 103 stairs.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
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.
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.
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...
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?
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?
The idea here is that you take all the nerves that would go to the amputated limb, and reroute them to some other muscle group. Then you hook your sensors up to the new muscle group and move the limb based on how that muscle twitches. But, since the nerves have been rewired, you don't have to think about twitching your thigh to move your calf, you just try to move your calf and the prosthetic responds intuitively.
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!