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Huge Leap Forward In Robotic Limb Replacement
BlueshiftVFX sends us to Wired for some video of the impressive, mind-controlled prosthetic robot arm invented by Dean Kamen. "Kamen's arm, dubbed 'Luke' (after Skywalker, I assume), is an incredibly sophisticated bit of engineering that's lightyears ahead of the clamping 'claws' that many amputees are forced to use today. The arm is fully articulated, giving the user the same degrees of movement as a natural arm, and is sensitive enough to pick up a piece of paper, a wineglass, or even a grape without mishap."
Not only would they be "fully articulated" in the bedroom they would also be "sensitive enough" to pick up flowers & wine beforehand.
Careful What You Wish For....
Dean Kamen is Finally Back to Inventing Useful Things
This comment is fully compliant with RFC 527.
I can't tell you how excited I would be if any insurance company on the planet would actually pay for this. I have a friend who lost his left arm fighting in the name of our country. So far three different insurance carriers have all denied him any kind of advanced prosthetic. It's sad...
That snippet really sums up the quality of the linked article.
In both the linked pages from the Wired article, it is explained in the first paragraph that, yes, this is inspired by Luke's prosthetic hand. All Things Digital article, Gizmodo article.
How long until the government mandates that these must have HRM on them (Human Rights Management) which would make it impossible to do certain "illegal" things. For example if it doesn't think you are 21 you can't pick up a beer bottle or a wine glass, it wouldn't let you pull a trigger of a gun, nor wield a knife defensively. Now, this technology is still 25-75 years off before it could actually be used, but could it be that in 150 years you would have to have your normal arms either amputated or modified to support Human Rights Management?
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Why only have an elbow and wrist and five fingers? Why not make an articulated arm that has more 'elbow' joints and two opposing digits (read: thumbs). If the brain isn't used to controlling 6 finger/digits, could it learn the task? Surely a wrist that could rotate 180degrees in either direction would be better than our current design.
You're not supposed to RTFA before you post. It could have been from Cool Hand Luke.
"What we've got here is a failure to communicate."
What a bad pun =]
So can this be adapted with some work to control real limbs of quadraplegics and paraplegics? Seems like something that could be done with some kind of muscle or nerve stimulation. One could imagine a direct stimulation of nerves in the arm based on this kind of signals. A person could actually "teach" the system to get some kind of use of limbs - even if there is no feeling.
not named for skywalker, it longs for freedom even as its ordered to dig and fill a hole again and again and wins egg eating contests.
Umm, wrong. While direct mental control isn't the only system discussed, they clearly did say that they had gotten it controlled directly from the mind. RTFA before whining that the subject is wrong. I hate people that are in such denial about their own ignorance, that they seek out places to try to correct others. No one knows everything, not even you. Accepting that is an early step on the path towards intellectual enlightenment.
This is pretty old news now. I did a presentation over the current state of robotics in limb prosthesis back in January and this along with bluetooth-capable prosthetic legs had been around for a bit already.
Dean Kamen is a real-life Tony Stark
There's research to do that, but it's decades off being practical apparently
http://www.uml.edu/media/enews/DARPA%20Braunhut%20limb%20regeneration.html
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Am I the only one that sees this as an exciting new way to control giant robots and Mecha? One of the demo videos shows an engineer who has not lost an arm controlling the device as a third arm. That could mean the creation of a real-life Doctor Octopus ... or even a way to control real life Mecha or telerobotic space exploration systems for mining the moon!
[signature]
Disclaimer: Dean Kamen is a personal friend of mine. I'll be cyber-casting about this very soon.
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All I have to say is 1d6+1 MDC .... Rifts anybody?
I'd like to see what what of these arms would look like if they could add an artificial silicone skin that other companies have developed.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
you'd have to twist my arm to get me to use one.
How many lightyears until we can see these things in stores?
Artificial limbs won't truly be kick-ass until they're better than the organic limbs they replace. And they need to make that reverb sproinging sound whenever they do something cool.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
Best of luck.
Is the normal weight of the missing limb factored into the design? I am a 50 year old disabled vet and most of the vets I see are only comfortable for a period of time with the prosthetic. Since 1991 I have carried the dead weight of my right hand around. The last seven years has also included the dead weight of my right arm and shoulder. My neck and whole spine is bent to the right now. I would feel much better if I knew this new generation of Veterans would get prosthetics that they will be able to keep on using. Is the natural weight of the limb factored into the design? Thanks!
Good point.
;)
I guess you could install a kind of "feedback compressor" not unlike the kind you use for a PA system. It would allow a wide range of pain an sensation types up to a threshold where they get clamped or even reduced far below said threshold as to lessen the possibility of shock or psychological harm to wearer. Even accelerometers could come in handy for figuring out the on-going "trauma status" of the prosthetic, well beyond what flesh and bone can do.
So you could "burn" yourself on the stove as a much needed learning exercise (read: don't break the $10,000 arm), but bamboo shoots under the nails or fingers caught in car doors wouldn't be a problem; freak accidents shouldn't penalize the wearer after all.
And then, of course, is the "off" switch available on the mil-spec model...
I can't wait for the MLB prosthetic limb scandal of 2030.
Sorta creepy seeing that patient's flap of a deltoid muscle flapping around. What does a patient without a deltoid muscle do for shoulder movement? Wish they would explain how the electronics actually work, but that's what China's for, isn't it.
"Hey, it really DOES feel like somebody else!"
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
...with the exciting servo motor sounds to give a real feel for the technology:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/82
The last two minutes have the arm demo video. The rest is classic Kamen.
-- thinkyhead software and media
Have you never seen the incredibly bad B-flick "Space Truckers"? It pretty much defines robo-penis to a fault.
8==8 Bones 8==8
That's a very good attempt at a justification, but I think it's rather more likely that the blogger mis-used the term.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
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"Earth women who experience sexual ecstasy with mechanical assistance always tend to feel guilty!"