Mind-Controlled Artificial Arm
My first encounter with artificial limbs was while watching Star Wars when I was younger. Since then, I've dreamed about a time when doctors can simply grab an artificial limb from the supply room and attach it to an injured patient. Modern prosthetics have been made lightweight and functional to allow for a semi-normal life for amputees, but the freedom of a natural limb just wasn't possible... Until now.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has funded research to develop a new age of prosthetic devices that can be controlled by the human mind using the still present nerve-endings of an amputee. The Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins University has answered the call with a revolutionary new device. APL's prosthetic allows amputees 22 degrees of freedom creating movements closely mimicking that of a natural arm. A device of this complexity would have been impractical in previous years due to the immense weight associated with multiple joints and various components. However, with the use of new materials and precision tools, APL has developed this prosthesis that weighs only nine pounds (comparable to the weight of a typical arm).
Collaboration with other DARPA-contracted labs around the country, researchers hope to incorporate pressure and touch receptors into the final design. These considerations would make it possible for amputees to live a completely normal life. Remedial tasks for non-amputees, such as grasping a fragile glass or a hot cup of coffee, would typically be impossible for someone with a prosthetic limb. This artificial arm is the way of the future, and it is very exciting to see such great progress being made in biomedical engineering.
http://www.surgicalproductsmag.com/scripts/ShowPR~PUBCODE~0S0~ACCT~0000100~ISSUE~1007~RELTYPE~NWS~PRODCODE~0000~PRODLETT~RU.asp
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has funded research to develop a new age of prosthetic devices that can be controlled by the human mind using the still present nerve-endings of an amputee. The Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins University has answered the call with a revolutionary new device. APL's prosthetic allows amputees 22 degrees of freedom creating movements closely mimicking that of a natural arm. A device of this complexity would have been impractical in previous years due to the immense weight associated with multiple joints and various components. However, with the use of new materials and precision tools, APL has developed this prosthesis that weighs only nine pounds (comparable to the weight of a typical arm).
Collaboration with other DARPA-contracted labs around the country, researchers hope to incorporate pressure and touch receptors into the final design. These considerations would make it possible for amputees to live a completely normal life. Remedial tasks for non-amputees, such as grasping a fragile glass or a hot cup of coffee, would typically be impossible for someone with a prosthetic limb. This artificial arm is the way of the future, and it is very exciting to see such great progress being made in biomedical engineering.
http://www.surgicalproductsmag.com/scripts/ShowPR~PUBCODE~0S0~ACCT~0000100~ISSUE~1007~RELTYPE~NWS~PRODCODE~0000~PRODLETT~RU.asp
posted by Phil Langford at 8:30 PM
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