6 Innovators Transforming Bionics

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Human beings can never be broken. That’s a conclusion that MIT Media Lab professor Hugh Herr came to after losing his lower limbs in a mountain-climbing accident in the 1980s. In a recent TED talk how, Herr waxes poetic about the potential of technology to restore functionality to people with a spectrum of disabilities, ultimately rendering disability obsolete in the future. With that vision in mind, Herr sought to develop technology that would enable him, and other disabled people, to lead a normal, active lifestyle.While disability continues to be a reality for many people in the early 21st century, Herr’s vision is beginning to seem prophetic. Last year saw the FDA approval of retinal prosthetic that can offer limited vision to the blind. Innovators in Israel and the United States are working on developing exoskeletons that can enable the paralyzed to walk.Read on to find more about innovators in the field who are pushing the cutting-edge of bionics and prosthetics.Chris Newmarker is senior editor of MPMN and Qmed. Follow him on Twitter at @newmarker. Brian Buntz is the editor-in-chief of MPMN and Qmed. Follow him on Twitter at @brian_buntz.