Bionic Arm Provides Hope for Amputees

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Thursday September 14, 2006 @05:48AM from the thinking-differently dept.

Static-MT writes to mention a CNN article about what doctors are referring to as the first thought-controlled artificial limb. Arm owner Jesse Sullivan has two prosthetic limbs, and the left one is an advanced prototype in development by the folks at DARPA. From the article: "Sullivan's bionic arm represents an advance over typical artificial arms, like the right-arm prosthesis he uses, which has a hook and operates with sequential motions. There is no perceivable delay in the motions of Sullivan's flesh-colored, plastic-like left arm. Until now, it has been nearly impossible to recreate the subtle and complex motion of a human arm."

1 of 138 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Re:The next step by plalonde2 · 2006-09-14 06:12 · Score: 4, Informative

If you check out the various videos, they also have a short demo of touch: the same re-wiring of nerves to the pectoral muscle can be used for feedback. In the case of the female patient, she has two fingers worth of touch, and it's pressure sensitive.
Very impressive.