>> years ago at m.i.t. i had written a grant i submitted to the veterans administration, the veterans affairs, and that grant was funded, and we used those monies at m.i.t. to develop really science of how the human ankle behaves and mapping that to how you build a synthetic device that emulate that is functionality. >> my name is ed lesowski. in 1967 i joined the army, and i was medically retired in 1984 after having a motorcycle accident on the 7th of august, 1981, where i took off most of my thigh, broke my femur, severed the artery in my right arm. >> i wanted to focus my walk on the ankle joint initially. when a person walks by far they're getting the most power