Students Create Thought-Controlled Prosthetic Arm 50
Zothecula writes "Two undergraduate students from Toronto's Ryerson University have created a prosthetic arm that is controlled by its wearer's brain signals, and powered by compressed air. Not only is the Artificial Muscle-Operated (AMO) Arm said to offer a greater range of movement than traditional prostheses, but it also doesn't require the amputee to undergo invasive surgery, is easy to learn to use, and it is relatively inexpensive to make."
I'm not sure about this. (Score:3, Interesting)
I would all depend on what level of the thought process they have it operating. Would the user have to actively think "I'll move it up, down, away, towards etc", in which case it would be less intuitive and easy than the nerve- or muscle-controlled ones. If the arm was set to just work on 'impulse' type thoughts, then how long before peoples arms start grabbing women by the arse just coz the user had a dirty thought - would they be able to be held responsible in law for the action of their arm?
As for the Canadians doing this, well done. DARPA have been working on this for a long time now;-
http://www.neurotechreports.com/pages/darpaprosthetics.html [neurotechreports.com]
http://singularityhub.com/2010/08/03/mind-controlled-artificial-arm-begins-the-first-human-testing/ [singularityhub.com]