As an aside, I have been puzzled about recent developments in prosthetic limbs. While different organization and companies have innovated some impressive technologies, nobody has yet combined the best ideas into comprehensive prosthetic limbs.
For example:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/18/robo_hand_gets_big_hand/
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/exploration/stories/bionicarm.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11858650/
http://www.festo.com/INetDomino/coorp_sites/de/1e70ac4a67fcfb11c12572d0004d3d44.htm
Importantly, so far I haven’t seen complex functions performed by an artificial limb controlled by a computer in the limb itself. This will be a major advance beyond the purely mechanical limb function for activities faster or more complex than is easy for nerve-limb connection.
Say with a left arm prosthetic, a person could pre-program a complex activity, say fingering guitar strings while they strum with their right hand. While this would possibly be too complex for a brain to limb command set, it could be much more responsive to a limited macro command set.
So they direct their left hand to “macro 36”, it knows and can tell when it properly clutches a guitar neck, with prosthetic fingers on the appropriate strings, then after a pause it changes its grip on the strings as the person strums with their other hand. Sub commands could include “pause” “start” “start over” “end”, and who knows what all else.
Nice article. Thanks for the post and ping.
Maryland PING!