Since WWII, prosthetic arm designs have functioned around a hook in place of a hand. The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) has begun a project to redesign prosthetic arms to replicate a natural human hand.
Soldiers who have served and are serving overseas are returning home maimed from the scars of war, Ker Than of livescience.com said. Medical technology has managed to keep them alive, but now is turning to the chances of returning to a normal life. The traditional design of a hook on the end of a plastic arm analog, while allowing for limited continual interaction, has drawbacks. There is no way to control the grip and a very limited way to even angle the hook itself.
DARPA is working with a large grant from the Pentagon to craft a revolution in the prosthetic inudstry called the DEKA. As of late, a new advancement has allowed for legs to think on their own and auto correct much like the gyroscopic powered Segway, Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes said in his broadcast. Within the team of researchers is Dean Kamen, the mind behind the Segway, who at first had adverse thoughts to the idea of artificially recreating a human construct. Regardless, Kamen has worked with teams of engineers and managed to solve a few of the logistical problems. Like bearing with the weight of the analog. By using a system of small inflatable pouches spread over the shoulder and chest, the nine pound device can be carried with relative ease.
Current programming attempts have been using a series of switches in the base of the shoe to control the grip of the DEKA arm. Future tests are going into setting the controls directly into the body of the user. Dr. Geoffrey Ling, a leading neurologist and army colonel said that it would be taking the ball of nerves in the shoulder and hooking a program to read the electronic impulses that are still sent by the brain. Such impulses are the cause of what is known as "phantom limb." When an amputee feels the limb that is no longer there.
Apart from a great sense of motor control, another aspect of the new technology is the ability to receive impulses from the object through the prosthetic. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University are working on designs on prosthetic limbs that use a more invasive procedure that includes injecting electrode sensors into the user's body, Erik Sofge of popularmechanics.com said.
Using these new devices wont be difficult for those who have lost their limbs through accidents. Jonathan Kuniholm, one of the 300 engineers on the project also faces the difficulties of having lost an arm and is working on tapping into the nerve centers for better control of the DEKA arm. He relates that the use of the arm wont be difficult to get used to. Instead of the programmer having to work with the computer, it is the computer that is working for the programmer. By sending the signals as he would if he had his hand, he only needs to tell the computer to recognize those impulses as certain movements.
"I'm not really learning, so much as the computer is."
The pricetag on this effort is in the hundreds of millions, but the success of this project would mean more than just a success for the American Armed Forces. As said by Pelley, "...this is another gift of the American taxpayer to the entire world."
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Chris: Lots of improvement in this post. You toned down the fancy writing and made much sense of another interesting and complicated subject. It's a little longer than necessary, and could probably have been 50 or 75 words shorter without hurting the meaning. Watch the typos. There are a couple in here. Thanks for changing the color scheme at the top. MUCH easier on the eyes. Score; 9
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