Dancing on a bionic leg

Adrianne Haslet-Davis was a victim of the Boston Marathon bombing last year. In March, less than a year later, she resumed her dancing career with a brief dance at the TED Conference. She was able to do so because of the work of Hugh Herr and his company, BiOM. I wrote about Herr's accomplishments with bionic legs last year. But the ankle of these bionic legs had never supported a dancer. The dancer's ankle has to respond to the many varied movements of dance. This is what Herr accomplished in Haslet-Davis' case. It stiffens up when the dancer needs a firmer stance or provides additional torque for forward thrust.