Segway Inventor Builds Bionic Arm for Wounded GIs

Foxnews.com ^ | 12-9-08 | unk

[Ron C.]

Segway Inventor Builds Bionic Arm

Tuesday , December 09, 2008

FOX NEWS

The man behind the Segway scooter has a new invention: bionic arms for wounded soldiers.

Called the "Luke Arm" after the prosthetic hand sported by Luke Skywalker in the "Star Wars" movies, Dean Kamen's device is lightweight, self-contained and fully capable of picking up grapes, baby bottles, even electric drills.

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The Luke Arm has four fingers and an opposable thumb, and was designed to be controlled by muscular movement in the wearer's remaining limbs.

But thanks to neurological advances in "targeted renervation" by Dr. Todd Kuiken of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, the Luke Arm can now connect directly to motor nerves, meaning it can be controlled purely by thought alone.

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• Click here to watch a video of the Luke Arm in action.

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Click HERE for full article.

[Ron C.]

This is about the most exciting thing I've seen in treating our injured troops in my lifetime!

[utherdoul]

this is great news!! Now I want a gun arm ala final fantasy VII. Once they get cracking on that I’ll be a happy camper.

[max americana]

I agree. Simply amazing video. It doesn’t remind me of the Luke Skywalker arm but the arm in Terminator 2.

[AprilfromTexas]

4 later
God bless our troops

[Ron C.]

~grin~ - I’ll bet there will be all sorts of ‘attachments’ in the not distant future - including your ‘gun arm.’

[Ron C.]

“...the arm in Terminator 2.”

You’re right! What amazes me is that it works from the users own mind! That’s a ~huge~ development!

[dreadnought321]

thats cool!

[Ron C.]

So ‘cool’ - it gives ~productive~ life back to those who had no hope!

[uglybiker]

Yeah, but does it make those cool Steve Austin sound effects?

Noo-noo-noo-noo-noo-noo-noo!

[Admin Moderator]

WELCOME BACK! :)

[dreadnought321]

It should be a wake up call for the un-productive

[Ron C.]

I’ll come visit in the not distant future, when I can find my links! ~grin~

[Admin Moderator]

;)

[Ron C.]

This is indeed a ‘wake-up call’ - for all of us. Particularly those who didn’t think anything like this was possible.

I’ve been on the cutting edge of software development - starting back when computers were relatively new. So I’ve thought for a long time that usable bionics were not far away - but it took far longer than I thought it would. The reason though... it’s a small market. That should not have slowed this - and that, to me, is the real wake-up. Sad...

[Othniel]

Dean Kamen is amazing. He's the driving force behind FIRST and the FIRST Lego League. These are kid competitions that promote engineering. FLL is international, with several tournaments all over the world happening this month. Check your local listings, or go to: www.usfirst.org to see where they'll be kickin' bot.

[Ron C.]

Thanks for the link! That’s quite an undertaking... and a ~lot~ of fun - great education too!

[Othniel]

My pleasure. I went to one of the FIRST (high school league) robot matches a few years ago. These kids had built 'bots the size of sofas, and they were remoted controlled. One of the tasks was to use an appendage (a hook) to grab a horizontal pipe and lift off the ground. Another was to pick up beach balls and put them into goals. It was loud, noisy fun, with cheering sections, music, and 'bot mayhem. Youtube also has a lot of FLL and FIRST stuff. Wahoo!

[billorites]

"It was loud, noisy fun, with cheering sections, music, and 'bot mayhem."

All the engineers and their geeky minions are involved in this where I teach.

It's hard to keep student's attention when some whirring, screeching contraption is bumping into walls out in the hall and carrying a giant beach ball.

Kamen's great.

[TheRake]

You’re right! What amazes me is that it works from the users own mind! That’s a ~huge~ development!

That’s not what I saw. It’s operated, in this case by foot pedals. Unless I missed something.

[Muddy168]

No, I saw/heard the same thing. This model was/is controlled by a foot pedal. The video said, “it can be controlled by a variety of means....”. Might not be the exact quote, but close enough. Still, this is a great thing in anyone’s book.