Photo credit: Brian Kersey / AP
Zac Vawter, fitted with an experimental “bionic” leg, is silhouetted on the Ledge at the Willis Tower in Chicago. Vawter is training for the world’s tallest stair-climbing event where he’ll attempt to climb 103 flights to the top of theWillis Tower using the new prosthesis. Corbin Maxey, special guest from Boise with Scooter

From Michelle Janaye Nealy of The Associated Press:
The metal on Zac Vawter bionic leg gleamed as he climbed 103 floors of Chicago’s iconic Willis Tower, becoming the first person ever to complete the task wearing a mind-controlled prosthetic limb.

Vawter, of Yelm, Thurston County, who lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident, put the smart limb on public display for the first time during an annual stair-climbing charity event called “SkyRise Chicago” hosted by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, where he is receiving treatment.

‘Everything went great,’ said the 31-year-old software engineer, who signed up to become a research subject, helping to test a trailblazing prosthetic leg that’s controlled by his thoughts.

‘The prosthetic leg did its part, and I did my part.’

When Vawter goes home to Yelm, where he lives with his wife and two children, the experimental leg will stay behind in Chicago. Researchers will continue to refine its steering. Taking it to the market is still years away,”
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