Meanwhile in prosthetic foot news, a new prosthetic foot has been developed and detailed in a PLoS-One paper by Steven H. Collins (Department of Bio-mechanical Engineering, Delft University of Technology) and Arthur D. Kuo (Departments of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan).

This latest artificial foot uses a micro controller to operate a device in the foot which stores energy from the down step and then releases it on the up step, thereby mimicking the natural movement of a human ankle. So it’s an authentic fake foot. Or at least as authentic as a fake foot can be.

The goal of the JaipurKnee Project was to create a prosthetic leg that was amazingly sturdy as well as amazingly cheap. That’s no easy task. Otherwise it would have been done by now. Somehow they did it and created the leg you see in the above pic. It only costs $20.

Expensive and high-tech prosthetic limbs are nothing new. But what about the majority of the world who can not afford them? Legs like the one above may not make you the bionic man, but they will let you function and walk. For cheap. Pretty awesome.