Joan Ronstadt
Staff Writer
@joanronstadt

Adrianne Haslet-Davis lost part of her leg during last year’s Boston Marathon bombing.  Haslet-Davis was a dance teacher, making the circumstances even more devastating.  However, she made a promise to herself that she would perform again, so she spent the next year working with Hugh Herr.

Herr heads MIT’s Biomechatronics research group and outfitted Haslet-Davis with a revolutionary prosthetic that would allow her to dance again.  Herr personally identified with Haslet-Davis, he himself being a double amputee who had dreams of becoming the world’s top mountain climber.

To specifically create the limb for Haslet-Davis, Herr and his team studied a dancer with similar build.  They tracked the dancer’s movement across a floor made of sensors.  They then used that data, a control algorithm, sensors and a motor inside of the prosthetic to make it function like a spinal cord.

Haslet-Davis got her dream.  On Wednesday night in Vancouver, she performed for the first time since the bombing.  Needless to say, tears were shed.  In an interview with Mashable, Herr said, “it was perfect.”  Adding, “I was very emotional.  It was beautiful.”

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