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New Success For Brain-Controlled Prosthetic Arm

Posted by timothy on from the less-impressive-than-vice-versa dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A number of amputees are now using a prosthetic arm that moves intuitively, when they think about moving their missing limb. Todd Kuiken and colleagues at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago surgically rearrange the nerves that normally connect to the lost limb and embed them in muscles in the chest. The muscles are then connected to sensors that translate muscle movements into movement in a robotic arm. The researchers first reported the technique in a single patient in 2007, and have now tested it in several more. The patients could all successfully move the arm in space, mimic hand motions, and pick up a variety of objects, including a water glass, a delicate cracker, and a checker rolling across a table. (Three patients are shown using the arm in the related video.) The findings are reported today in Journal of the American Medical Association."

9 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. A Brain-Controlled Prosthetic Arm? by grub · · Score: 4, Funny


    Teen male amputees will tell their peers "Try using the left side of your brain, it feels like somebody else!"

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    1. Re:A Brain-Controlled Prosthetic Arm? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I may be in a minority round here, but I have two natural arms and they can both pick up a hammer. I think you need to get a bit more exercise.

  2. The Cyborgs are comming. by jellomizer · · Score: 2, Funny

    The question is would technology get to a point where our brains will interact better with machines then they do with our own bodies. Being that technology advances faster then evolution I could see it coming. I just hope they come with low power USB ports so I don't need a keyboard anymore.

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    1. Re:The Cyborgs are comming. by Lord+Ender · · Score: 3, Funny

      I just want one of these things that interfaces with my computer as a Bluetooth HID. Think of it: mousing without having to lift your hands from the keyboard! And you only have to sacrifice the use of some vestigial muscle.

      Really, if they can figure out how to key this thing off of that muscle that wiggles your ears, we could even maintain that classic bluetooth douchebag look by having something clipped on to our ears all the time.

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  3. why just amputees? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I have two bio arms, but I would be quite like having a third arm I could control as naturally as my other two. This would be especially useful when using emacs.

  4. Just be careful when you talk about this by NotSoHeavyD3 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now guys, just be careful not to mention that eventually this brain controlled arm could be used to masturbate or wield a gun since that would get the pubs and dems to cut funding respectively.:-)

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    1. Re:Just be careful when you talk about this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Of course, I'd only have that problem if I has a prosthetic dick too.

      I have a prosthetic dick you insensitive clod!

  5. Re:Stem Cells by Devout_IPUite · · Score: 2, Funny

    Me, I'm just waiting in this mud hut until we have star travel so I can move to a nicer place on another planet.

  6. Painful word choice!! by rts008 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'd hate to have that same problem when jerking off.

    You might want to rephrase that....

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