Bionic Arm Provides Hope for Amputees

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."

Comments

So he's no longer...

[Kingrames]

...Mostly 'armless?

Re:So he's no longer...

[Darth_brooks]

Easy. He just uses his right arm to put on his left, then his left arm to put on his right. Duh.

Hear hear

[OSS_ilation]

Lets give this guy a hand.

And it only cost 6 million dollars...

[MrSenile]

We can rebuild him.

Rebuild him... better... stronger... faster...

Re:And it only cost 6 million dollars...

[fobbman]

If this arm doesn't make that cool "neh neh neh neh" bionic noise already, they should add it.

The next step

[rob_squared]

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.

Re:The next step

[plalonde2]

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.

Re:The next step

[Doc Ruby]

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.

Re:The next step

[giblfiz]

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

[loose electron]

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.

The Singularity is Near

[SevenHands]

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

Ahhh, childhood memories...

Oblig.

[Klowner]

And that's why you ALWAYS leave a note.

Dang straight

[cascadingstylesheet]

>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 :)

Re:DARPA funds some cool technologies.

[mordors9]

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....

Re:Will it work the same for all?

[vidarh]

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.

Re:hope?

[cnelzie]

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.