Tech Talk: A bionic leg made for walking

A neuroprosthetic interface allows a bionic leg to be fully responsive to the human nervous system, a new report suggests. The interface, made of surgically constructed agonist-antagonist muscle pairs that restore natural proprioception (the ability to sense limb position and movement), resulted in improved walking control in a clinical trial involving 14 people with below-the-knee amputation. The findings suggest that even partial reinstatement of neural signaling may be sufficient to enable improvements in neuroprosthetic functionality.