Imagining a bionic future

When Paul Selmer lost his right leg below the knee in a hunting accident, a doctor fitted him with a standard prosthesis that required a waist belt to swing the wooden foot with each step. Selmer remembers it feeling like a "sandbag." That was 28 years ago. The gallery owner and small-aircraft pilot is now a devotee of a high-tech device called a PROPRIO foot, which utilizes sensors, artificial intelligence and microprocessors. "I marvel at how far we've come and how far we can go," said Selmer, who was unable to fly newer planes until discovering the PROPRIO.