Bionic Arm Provides Hope for Amputees

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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."

32 of 138 comments (clear)

So he's no longer... by Kingrames · 2006-09-14 05:51 · Score: 3, Funny

...Mostly 'armless?

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1. Re:So he's no longer... by PrescriptionWarning · 2006-09-14 06:21 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Ya gotta hand it to em, it was funny
2. Re:So he's no longer... by Darth_brooks · 2006-09-14 06:33 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Easy. He just uses his right arm to put on his left, then his left arm to put on his right. Duh.
  
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DARPA funds some cool technologies. by KIFulgore · 2006-09-14 05:52 · Score: 2, Funny

I approve of this little internet thing of theirs too (sorry Al).

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1. Re:DARPA funds some cool technologies. by mordors9 · 2006-09-14 06:37 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  The geeks back in the lab couldn't get a date, wanted to keep both hands on the keyboard, so they thought.... hmmm "how about a thought controlled body part to pleasure myself." Of course being geeks they decided on a hand....
Hear hear by OSS_ilation · 2006-09-14 05:52 · Score: 5, Funny

Lets give this guy a hand.
Thought-controlled? by payndz · 2006-09-14 05:54 · Score: 2, Funny

But does he have to "theeeenk in Rrrrrussian"?

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And it only cost 6 million dollars... by MrSenile · 2006-09-14 05:54 · Score: 4, Funny

We can rebuild him.

Rebuild him... better... stronger... faster...
1. Re:And it only cost 6 million dollars... by fobbman · 2006-09-14 06:21 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  If this arm doesn't make that cool "neh neh neh neh" bionic noise already, they should add it.
The next step by rob_squared · 2006-09-14 05:55 · Score: 3, Interesting

What I'd really like to see is the other end of the equation, actual touch perception. And I don't mean if you feel the shock when hitting something with the arm, I mean feeling textures, or perhaps it'd be easier to start off with hot/cold sensors, since we know how to do that with existing equipment.

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1. Re:The next step by TheGreatHegemon · 2006-09-14 06:01 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  "What I'd really like to see is the other end of the equation, actual touch perception. And I don't mean if you feel the shock when hitting something with the arm, I mean feeling textures, or perhaps it'd be easier to start off with hot/cold sensors, since we know how to do that with existing equipment." Honestly, I think that's not important in the least right now. Perfecting this arm for motion would be far more important right now. The sheer idea of having a useable ARM is simple wonderful for an amputee. An amputee, I am sure, wouldn't mind having a useable arm right now, even if it means foregoing the ability to feel. To have such a large degree of ability back far outstrips even the need for being able to feel for the time being - Feeling is a nice touch, having a useable arm is a gift like no other.
2. 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.
3. Re:The next step by Doc+Ruby · 2006-09-14 06:19 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Easy for you to say (assuming your nervous system is intact). Every para/quadraplegic ("paralyzed") person I know has told me they much prefer getting senation back than motion. We already have all kinds of tech for motion that need not be bionic - down to the crutch. But sensation is even more important to feeling human. And in various scenarios, we're all blind/deaf/numb.
  
  This bionic arm is is an excellent advance, and worthy of every congratulation. But when talking about "the next step", the experts say it's sensation.
  
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4. Re:The next step by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-14 06:34 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Actually tactile sensation and feedback to the user IS part of this program. There are groups at UC Irvine, Oakridge, and SSSA (in Italy) developing sensors while Univ. Utah and Chicago PT groups are working on haptic feedback systems. If successful this project will truly revolutionize prosthetics.
  
  And for those who have commented that the sensation of touch would be "icing on the cake" but that movement is more important, I urge you to check out various research that has shown that without systems for afferent feedback even wholly natural, efferent control is greatly reduced in effectiveness. To summarize one relevant study, whole subjects (i.e. uninjured, normal people) had their fingers anaesthetized but retained full motor control. The result was that without a sense of touch they could not perform even simple tasks (e.g. lighting a match).
5. Re:The next step by dr_dank · 2006-09-14 07:38 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  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,
  
  So when you shake her bionic hand, she feels it on her chest?
  
  Oh man, this is gonna be good...
  
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6. Re:The next step by giblfiz · 2006-09-14 07:50 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I know this was a joke, but actually it's pretty interesting. She doesn't feel it on her chest she feels it on her arm (the one that isn't their anymore). The weird thing is that their are parts of her chest that you can poke her in, and she will feel it in her arm (so its sort of the opposite of what you were suggesting)
  
  This, of course is the result of some pretty cutting edge surgery.
Only The Begining by loose+electron · 2006-09-14 06:00 · Score: 4, Interesting

Medical electronics are just entering a new age.

Research now ongoing that I am aware of:
-- Transponder system to provide electronic relay between severed spinal cord sections.
-- Artificial eye that connects to the optic nerve.

Those two are "out there" with no products out in time for christmas. :)

However there are heaps of things now on the market (pacemakers, insulin pumps, etc, etc)
and more to come. All for the good.

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Will it work the same for all? by unPlugged-2.0 · 2006-09-14 06:02 · Score: 2, Informative

Wow this is a really great breakthrough at least as far as the article describes it but there are a lot of unanswered questions.

The mechanism is basically built by connecting the way other nerves and muscles in the body operate when you do a voluntary action such as clenching your hand or flexing your arm. However this is just the muscle patterns and nerve synapses of one man.

If there is one thing I learned from my failed pre-med career it was that all human bodies interact differently. How will this work then for the masses? Would this have to be custom made for every person? Some kind of custom AI module or custom firmware that is uploaded based on your user profile or based off motion capture on your other arm.

Also from a tech side, what kind of chips do they use to do the processing of this. TFA doesn't mention the stuff we really want to hear.

The article is a little misleading though because the arm doesn't actually listen to the brain it listens to other portions around the arm based on a certain programmed sequence of events. I was really excited because I thought that they had made a device that responds to ECG waves from the brain and actually knows how to recognize certain patterns.

Even though I come off negative I must say that this is a great step in the right direction. The better AI and integration with the brain will surely come with time.

I just hope the AI arms don't decide to overthrow the arm owner or worse a la Doc. Octavius.

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1. Re:Will it work the same for all? by vidarh · 2006-09-14 06:47 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  If you actually bothered to read the article, you'd have seen that it doesn't do that at all - the severed nerves are surgically connected to an intact muscle, such as the pecs, and once the nerves can activate parts of the muscle they attach the appropriate electrodes to the appropriate parts of the muscle.
The Singularity is Near by SevenHands · 2006-09-14 06:03 · Score: 3, Funny

I am AllStar, A Robot. I can put my arm back on. You can too!

Ahhh, childhood memories...
another story by brunascle · 2006-09-14 06:04 · Score: 2, Informative

MIT's Technology Review had a similar article in july.

the have videos (.MOV) of a patient controlling a computer cursor and a prosthetic hand
hope? by blackmonday · 2006-09-14 06:05 · Score: 2, Informative

I get a little irked at the "hope for amputees thing". One of my best friends has an arm to the elbow only, and he doesn't need any hope - he's just fine. He has adapted well, and there are few things he cannot do. He has a fake arm for cosmetic reasons, and it helps him to grip simple things, but lets get real. Amputees are not hopeless, they can do most things you and I can do, and frankly some of them (my friend included) put their two-limb friends to shame with their dexterity.
1. Re:hope? by joeytmann · 2006-09-14 06:12 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  But if given the oppertunity I bet your friend would like to have a prostectic that works more like a real arm. No one is calling him or other amputees hopeless, just trying to make an adequate replacement for the real thing.
  
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2. Re:hope? by cnelzie · 2006-09-14 06:49 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  I bet your friend would like to have a fully functional normal hand back.
  
  This technology provides the hope, that one day, in his lifetime, the technology will be available in order for him to have a replacement limb that functions exactly as his original meat grown hand functioned.
  
  That's all the "hope" that was being talked about. Nobody said that people missing limbs are hopeless or completely incapable of adapting.
  
  I have hope that someday Overly Politically Correct Blinded people will once again be able to open their eyes and see that not everything is as terrible and cynical as they like to make it out to be.
  
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Now the Inevitable Question is... by terrahertz · 2006-09-14 06:06 · Score: 2, Interesting

When will this technology cross the line from being restorative (for amputees) and become (for super-soldiers) augmentative?

Don't think DARPA hasn't already put this on the projected timeline.

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Bionics by Dan+Slotman · 2006-09-14 06:10 · Score: 2, Interesting

I think there is great future in bionics. In addition to limbs as discussed in this submission, scientists have various approaches to bionic sight as well. This subject is truly fascinating. Here is a BBC article on a different project.

Interestingly and unfortunately, much advanced and successful bionics research is being done in South America because of restrictive laws in more typical countries. While I understand the need to protect patients, research for a paper I wrote two years ago indicates that the most successful scientists are pragmatically drawn away from first-class research institutes.
Oblig. by Klowner · 2006-09-14 06:10 · Score: 4, Funny

And that's why you ALWAYS leave a note.
Physics Today covered this three weeks ago by Guinnessy · 2006-09-14 06:16 · Score: 2, Informative

See http://www.physicstoday.org/vol-59/iss-9/pdf/vol59 no9p24_25.pdf
Re:I am your father. by kalirion · 2006-09-14 06:21 · Score: 2, Insightful

Actually Luke could feel sensations from his hand. This arm from TFA is much closer to automail arm Edward Elric has.
Dang straight by cascadingstylesheet · 2006-09-14 06:30 · Score: 4, Insightful

>I get a little irked at the "hope for amputees thing". One of my best
>friends has an arm to the elbow only, and he doesn't need any hope -
>he's just fine.

Yep. My son was born with no arms or legs, and he is amazing. He's still just a baby (OK, almost "toddler") and he rolls everywhere, manipulates stuff with his arm stubs (1" or less), and just astounds us with what he can do.

He's being fitted for a "training arm" with no elbow now (a lengthy process of taking molds, making "test sockets", checking the fit, coming back, etc.), and I have no idea how he's going to react when he actually gets it. It'll be cool for some things, but I bet his first reaction will be to be ticked off that he can't roll so easily :)
Marital aide? by PIPBoy3000 · 2006-09-14 06:57 · Score: 2, Funny

What if he thinks "vibrate quickly"?
Major Kusanagi? Is that you? by vertinox · 2006-09-14 07:04 · Score: 2, Interesting

So when do get full prosthetic bodies?

Or at least one like hers?

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