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Bionic Arm Provides Hope for Amputees

Posted by Zonk on Thu Sep 14, 2006 01:48 PM
from the thinking-differently dept.
Biotech Science Technology
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."
+ -
story

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[+] DARPA Sponsoring Limb Regeneration Research 221 comments
fragmentate writes "Wired News is reporting: 'In response to the hundreds of soldiers coming home from war with missing arms or legs, Darpa is spending millions of dollars to help scientists learn how people might one day regenerate their own limbs. Prosthetics are getting better all the time, but they will never be as good as the limbs we were born with. So two teams of scientists at 10 institutions across the country are competing to regrow the first mammalian limb ... The researchers' first milestone is to generate a blastema — a mass of cells able to develop into various organs or body parts — in a mammal.' Apparently this is a relatively new area of research, even Wikipedia's stub on blastemas is very terse."
[+] Bionic Arm Might Go Into Clinical Trials 107 comments
prostoalex writes "The bionic arm project sponsored by DARPA is nearing completion, and might undergo clinical trials. 'The arm has motor control fine enough for test subjects to pluck chocolate-covered coffee beans one by one, pick up a power drill, unlock a door, and shake a hand. Six preconfigured grip settings make this possible, with names like chuck grip, key grip, and power grip. The different grips are shortcuts for the main operations humans perform daily.'"
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Bionic Arm Provides Hope for Amputees 25 Comments More /

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  • So he's no longer... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kingrames (858416) on Thursday September 14 2006, @01:51PM (#16106543)
    ...Mostly 'armless?
  • I approve of this little internet thing of theirs too (sorry Al).

  • Hear hear (Score:5, Funny)

    by OSS_ilation (922367) on Thursday September 14 2006, @01:52PM (#16106564)
    Lets give this guy a hand.

  • Thought-controlled? (Score:3, Funny)

    by payndz (589033) on Thursday September 14 2006, @01:54PM (#16106585)
    But does he have to "theeeenk in Rrrrrussian"?

  • And it only cost 6 million dollars... (Score:4, Funny)

    by MrSenile (759314) on Thursday September 14 2006, @01:54PM (#16106590)
    We can rebuild him.

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

  • The next step (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rob_squared (821479) <rob,squared&gmail,com> on Thursday September 14 2006, @01:55PM (#16106597)
    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 (Score:5, Informative)

      by plalonde2 (527372) <plalonde AT telus DOT net> on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:12PM (#16106812)
      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.
      • 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...

        • Re:The next step (Score:5, Interesting)

          by giblfiz (125533) on Thursday September 14 2006, @03:50PM (#16107875)
          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.

      • Re:The next step (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Doc Ruby (173196) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:19PM (#16106889) Homepage Journal
        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.

  • Only The Begining (Score:5, Interesting)

    by loose electron (699583) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:00PM (#16106669) Homepage
    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 (Score:3, Funny)

    by SevenHands (984677) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:03PM (#16106713)
    I am AllStar, A Robot. I can put my arm back on. You can too!

    Ahhh, childhood memories...

  • hope? (Score:3, Informative)

    by blackmonday (607916) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:05PM (#16106729) Homepage
    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.

    • Dang straight (Score:5, Insightful)

      by cascadingstylesheet (140919) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:30PM (#16107027)
      >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:hope? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by cnelzie (451984) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:49PM (#16107231) Homepage
      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.

  • Oblig. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Klowner (145731) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:10PM (#16106796) Homepage
    And that's why you ALWAYS leave a note.

  • Marital aide? (Score:3, Funny)

    by PIPBoy3000 (619296) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:57PM (#16107334)
    What if he thinks "vibrate quickly"?

  • Major Kusanagi? Is that you? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by vertinox (846076) on Thursday September 14 2006, @03:04PM (#16107409)
    So when do get full prosthetic bodies?

    Or at least one like hers?

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