Aimee Mullins and her 12 pairs of legs: Prosthesis as fashion and for granting "superpowers"

Aimee Mullins' hand-carved legs from avant-garde "The Cremaster Cycle".

Athlete, actor and activist Aimee Mullins talks about her prosthetic legs -- she's got a dozen amazing pairs -- and the superpowers they grant her: speed, beauty, an extra 6 inches of height ... Quite simply, she redefines what the body can be.

A record-breaker at the Paralympic Games in 1996, Aimee Mullins has built a career as a model, actor  and advocate for women, sports and the next generation of prosthetic. 

Superpowers?

From an identity standpoint, what does it mean to have a disability? Pamela Anderson has more prosthetic in her body than I do. Nobody calls her disabled.” (Aimee Mullins) 

Aimee Mullins watches amputee and leg designer
Hugh Herr (below)  climb a wall at MIT

Herr pictured with Mullins
 on Wired magazine cover

Another amputee that breaks the previous mold is Hugh Herr, who lost his legs in a mountain climbing accident at 17.  Subsequently, motivated by trying to honor the life of the rescuer that had died trying to bring his group off the mountain, he received advanced degrees from MIT and Harvard in mechanical engineering and biophysics,  dedicated himself to designing better prosthetics, and is now a leader in the field. Herr has observed a strange divergence in the mortality and aging of his natural body, and the immortality regular upgrading of his artificial limbs:

Photo: Len Rubenstien/ Crown Business
Hugh Herr - Mountain climber, double
amputee and designer  has
"many, many legs" for different uses. 

"My biological body will degrade in time due to normal, age-related degeneration. But the artificial part of my body improves in time because I can upgrade. ... So I predict that when I'm 80 years old, I'll be able to walk with less energy than is required of a person who has biological legs, I'll be more stable, and I'll probably be able to run faster. ... The artificial part of my body is, in some sense, immortal."

MIT Professor and entrepreneur Hugh Herr talks about the future of bionic limbs and the currently available technologies, including exo-bionics (worn outside the body as an exoskeleton) for people who are using their natural legs that allow them to run on hard surfaces without damaging their knees and hips. He also  showcases exo-bionics to correct the drop-footed gait that often results from stoke, again not for amputees. His own leg will be soon be linked to his nervous system to allow him not only to walk on the beach, but to feel the sand through his bionic limbs.  His current research is focusing on creating a running exoskeleton for able-bodied people that will allow running to take the same effort as walking.

Design based on
Harley motorcycle

As prosthetics come out of the closet, designers are turning an eye towards this market as a new segment of the fashion and sportswear industry, just as eyeglasses before them.    Bespoke Innovations has used 3D printing to create cool custom legs inspired by items as diverse as from the client's existing tattoos,  Harley motorcycles,  to a classic Channel purse.

Nike's branded Prosthetic

There are 1.5 million amputees in the United States, so the market is already not inconsiderable.  If one adds in the probability that exo-bionics such as the hard surface running aid for non-amputees  will also be marketed, it's easy to understand the eagerness to establish presence in this area now. It's not surprising then, that Nike has designed the status sports-branded Nike Prosthetic, which looks like a cross between cyborg sci-fi and  high end sports equipment. In the future, it seems almost inevitable that there will be branded Air Jordan and Christian Dior body parts fighting for market share.