Man Controls Prosthetic Arm With His Mind
European scientists have successfully managed to build a robotic arm that can be controlled via thoughts from the user.
In an experiment conducted last year, Pierpaolo Petruzziello moved a prosthetic limb with just his brain for an entire month. Petruzziello was left without his left arm from the elbow down following a car accident several years ago but with the new technology, the 26-year-old was able to feel sensations in the artificial limb.
"It felt almost the same as a real hand. They stimulated me a lot, even with needles ... you can't imagine what they did to me," the AP quotes Petruzziello as saying.
Surgery to attach the prosthetic involved implanting electrodes into the nerves located in what remained of Petruzziello's arm. The AP reports that once connected to his nervous system, Petruzziello was able to master moving the limb within a few days. By the end of the experiment, the robotic arm was responding to 95 percent of the commands it received from Petruzziello's brain.
The experiment so far has cost $3 million and has taken 5 years. The next step is to develop a more long term prosthesis that can be implanted for longer periods.
Video (via the Associated Press) below. To read more on the experiment, click here.
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wow, interesting!
we are the borg....
Honestly, your Honor, I didn't mean to slap her this thing has a mind of it's own.
The Cybermen are comming... run...
That's a 50% economy over the 6 million dollar man!
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The still in that movie clip bears a close resemblance to the hand in the Cyberdyne lab in T2. Spooky!
*Paul Houseman - The Terminator Theme playing in the background*
*With Arnold Schwarzenegger voice*
Hasta La Vista Baby!
I wonder if he can play Crysis with it... sorry, couldn't help myself
I have nothing nice to say....really just, duh?
3 million sounds dirt cheap for something so frickin' amazing!
I wonder if they'll be able to tap into nerve endings that aren't severed, so we can go willy-nilly adding extra limbs. Four arms doesn't sound too bad!
I have nothing nice to say....really just, duh?
Ass
I can definitely see this being used for more...mature...applications?
This is great! =D people can walk again , people can have two arms again , I smell success.
resistance is futile...
omg mudkip reference?
More refined grips in upcoming models? To what use?
To steal a quote from the article, "It felt almost the same as a real hand. They stimulated me a lot"
*wink wink*
I wonder if they'll be able to tap into nerve endings that aren't severed, so we can go willy-nilly adding extra limbs. Four arms doesn't sound too bad!
It's very likely that they could, however, you can only control parts of you're body your brain is familiar with. This guy will be imagining he's moving his hand which no longer exists.
I can't see us being able to move extra limbs independently.
It's very likely that they could, however, you can only control parts of you're body your brain is familiar with. This guy will be imagining he's moving his hand which no longer exists. I can't see us being able to move extra limbs independently.
If you start young enough, while the mind is still forming synapses you could conceivably engineer multiple limbs or even other forms of sensory abilities... as long as your brain is still under construction, it's pretty darn adaptable.
Ghost in the Shell!
This makes losing your arm in a lightsaber battle no big deal!
Jokes aside, this is a really cool technological advancement!
in other news ... a robotic penis has been implanted on to a female test subject.... more at 11
This year a Robotic Arm - next year a Terminator
Cyberdyne hehe. The developed a more complexed hand, now developed by the government and used in Terminators O.o dang it everlast66 you stole my idea lolz. Funny thing to there is some company out there called Cyberdyne working on mechanical suits used in the military for medical personal for lifting body's of injured soldiers.
Like all robotic prosthetics I've seen, I just wonder when those things will be able to move about faster than my great-grandmother. Sure, let me pick up this bottle....wait for it...wait for it....got it!
No lasers? I want mine to have lasers...
Holy crap ! this is awesome !!!
This is great! =D people can walk again , people can have two arms again , I smell success.
What would be the best is to completely restore eyesight to those that are blind. Once we got that, we'd be all set.
I'm surprised it didn't cost more