On Jul. 10, 2025, MIT researchers announced they have developed a new bionic knee that can help people with above-the-knee amputations walk faster, climb stairs, and avoid obstacles more easily than they could with a traditional prosthesis.

Unlike prostheses in which the residual limb sits within a socket, the new system is directly integrated with the user’s muscle and bone tissue. This enables greater stability and gives the user much more control over the movement of the prosthesis.

Participants in a small clinical study also reported that the limb felt more like a part of their own body, compared to people who had more traditional above-the-knee amputations. The study was published in Science.