Man Climbs Chicago Tower Using Mind-Controlled Prosthetic

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Man Climbs Chicago Tower Using Mind-Controlled Prosthetic

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Zac Vawter, fitted with an experimental "bionic" leg, looks down from the Ledge of the Willis Tower, in Chicago. Vawter climbed 103 flights of stairs to the top of the tower using a new prosthesis that he controls with his mind.

Brian Kersey/AP
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Vawter kicks a soccer ball with a "bionic" leg as biomedical student Aaron Young makes adjustments at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. After losing his leg in a motorcycle accident, the 31-year-old software engineer signed up to become a research subject, helping test a prosthetic leg that's controlled by his thoughts.

Brian Kersey/AP
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Vawter stands on his bionic leg after he arriving on the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower, becoming the first person ever to complete the task wearing the mind-controlled prosthetic limb.

Teresa Crawford/AP
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Dr. Levi Hargrove, lead researcher for the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago's Center for Bionic Medicine, holds the experimental prosthetic leg at the institute.

Brian Kersey/AP
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Physical therapist assistant Suzanne Finucane helps Vawter as he practices walking with the experimental leg in Chicago.

Brian Kersey/AP
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Physical therapist assistant Suzanne Finucane and Prothetist Robert Lipschutz attach electrodes to Zac Vawter's leg.

Brian Kersey/AP
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Vawter, wearing his bionic leg, stands in the center of a group of researchers from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago at Willis Tower in Chicago.

Teresa Crawford/AP
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Vawter practices walking with the experimental leg in Chicago.

Brian Kersey/AP
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