Scientists at CMU, Harvard, the University of Southern California, MIT, and BioSensics have developed a robotic ankle that will assist people with injuries or illnesses that affect their lower legs.

The unique part about the robotic ankle is that its artificial muscles are a series of pneumatic tubes which are configured like real muscle. They act like real muscle and can expand and contract as sensors above the knee tell them what to do based on the motion of the person wearing the device.

This creates a natural motion in the ankle. It provides support for walking and it also helps condition the real muscles underneath. Check out how it works in the video below:

[Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute]