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`Bionic' Arm Brings Back Sense of Touch

bdcrazy writes "Two way communication with prosthetic devices allows man who lost both arms in an accident to feel hot and cold, to sense objects and to actually move the prosthetic device to pick things up and put them down. "

19 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Nice by natron+2.0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It is well and good until the arms short circuit and try to kill him...

    1. Re:Nice by CorporateWhoremone · · Score: 5, Funny

      lineman for a Tennessee power company, Sullivan in 2001 grabbed a high-tension wire carrying 7,400 volts of electricity, which incinerated his arms. If his 12V arms shorted I don't think it would even phase this guy.

      --
      You make fun of France once and your Karma is never the same...
  2. Flashback by lukewarmfusion · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...to robot pricking each finger and palm, one by one, as the patient says "ow!" and then wrapping the prosthetic arm in a black glove...

  3. Step 2 by Nytewynd · · Score: 5, Funny

    The next step is finding out that Darth Vader is your daddy.

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    /. ++
    1. Re:Step 2 by Eclypser · · Score: 5, Funny

      No oo ooo oooo ooooo

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      The comment has already been made. Let's move it along people. Nothing to see here.
  4. Fast enough? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Would the user be able to sense that his arm is in liquid-hot MAAGMAAA before it melted?

  5. Old, artificial arm joke by winkydink · · Score: 5, Funny

    This reminds me of the old joke about the voice-actuated artificial arm.

    They finally attach one to an armless human patient and it goes like this.

    The guy says, "Arm, scratch my nose". And the arm does it.

    "Amazing!", says the guy.

    "Arm, sign my name." The arm does it.

    This continues for quite a while. Finally when the guy's alone.
    He says, "Arm, take off my pants." The arm complies.

    He looks at the arm, and then at his penis and says, "OK arm, jerk it off!"

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

    1. Re:Old, artificial arm joke by mat+catastrophe · · Score: 4, Funny

      You can make this joke worse by adding the following:

      The guy then screams in pain, "Oh, fuck me!"

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      sig not found
  6. cheaper than I expected by justforaday · · Score: 5, Funny

    So far it's only cost about $100,000, which is far cheaper than the $6,000,000 that was originally estimated. Maybe we'll get a little closer to that price once another arm is added, and some legs and a head and body...

    --
    I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
    1. Re:cheaper than I expected by lgw · · Score: 4, Funny

      Six million dollars total, perhaps?

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    2. Re:cheaper than I expected by dubiousx99 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ok so we now know the exact cost of an arm, when will they do a leg so we can finally know how much an arm and a leg really cost?

  7. OOoooh by TCaptain · · Score: 3, Funny

    "We can rebuild him. We have the technology.
    We have the capability to make the world's first Bionic man.
    Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before.
    Better . . . stronger . . . faster."

    --
    "I'm not a procrastinator, I'm temporally challenged"
  8. Non-binary feedback by UltimateWager · · Score: 5, Funny
    The article describes being able to feel different levels of pressure in addition to different temperatures. It sounds like an impressive level of feedback.

    Anybody want to take bets on how long it takes for a Linux dist. to be built for it?

    1. Re:Non-binary feedback by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 4, Funny

      The article describes being able to feel different levels of pressure in addition to different temperatures. It sounds like an impressive level of feedback.

      Anybody want to take bets on how long it takes for a Linux dist. to be built for it?


      About 5 years, 1 year for the guy to learn how to type "make menuconfig" with his toes, and another 4 for gentoo to finish compiling.

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  9. Masturbating. by Poromenos1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Masturbating without a sense of touch is way better though, it doesn't feel like you're doing it... Not that I'd know! :P

    --
    Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
  10. Relocated arm nerves by nizo · · Score: 4, Funny
    Sullivan's prosthesis has a computer in the forearm that is wired to a mechanical hand and to a "plunger" device on his chest. The hand sends signals up the wires to the plunger, which pushes the skin. That stimulates the nerves in his chest to transmit sensations to the brain as if the nerves were still connected to his real hand.
    On Wednesday, when Kuiken touched a spot on Sullivan's chest, Sullivan said: "Oh, that's right between the finger and thumb on the back side of the hand."
    If Kuiken touches one of Sullivan's prosthetic fingers, Sullivan can feel it and say which finger it is.

    Wow. I just know he is glad he can still play the "pull my finger" game with his grandkids.

  11. Re:Prosthetic brain? by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't mean to sound like an insentive asshole

    You definitely should consider being fitted with a prosthetic asshole that can feel hot and cold and sense objects.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  12. Usage stats by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 4, Funny

    "For some reason his right arm is showing more wear than the left," said Dr. Todd Kuiken. "Especially around the fingers and palm. We're not sure what's up with that."

  13. Re:Prosthetic brain? by Linker3000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Where I did my electronics engineering apprenticeship, we had a guy who had suffered a similar accident. His whole nervous system was shot to pieces and he had to wear tinted glasses because his eyes became sensitive to light. He had two claws for arms...and worked as a draughtsman in the drawing office!

    One day he was in front of me at a drinks vending machine and he asked me to put the coins in for him as this was about the only thing he couldn't do with his claws. He punched the buttons and out came a cup of coffee. Just as he went to pick it up, the plastic 'splash door' on the front of the cup area (which was stuck up) came down and knocked the cup, spilling coffee over his claw.

    "Damn", he said, "but at least I didn't get burned!".

    He was a really nice guy.

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    AT&ROFLMAO