Smart prosthetic ankle takes fear out of rough terrain, stairs

It’s virtually impossible to know Mike Sasser’s left leg is a prosthetic one – after a decade of practice, he moves surely and swiftly through his busy days as a consultant and father. But when Sasser encounters uneven ground or a flight of stairs, he focuses very hard on balance, because that’s when using a prosthetic can mean taking a tumble. For years, he’s been visiting a Vanderbilt University mechanical engineering laboratory, making a difference by testing a new “smart” prosthetic ankle that moves wit