Prosthetic armScientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) were awarded no less than $34.5 million by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to continue their outstanding work in the field of prosthetic limb testing, which has seen them come up with the most advanced model yet.

Their Modular Prosthetic Limb (MPL) system is just about ready to be tested on human subjects, as it has proved successful with monkeys. Basically, the prosthetic arm is controlled by the brain through micro-arrays that are implanted (gently) in the head. They record brain signals and send the commands to the computer software that controls the arm. To be honest, it will be interesting to see just how these hair-chips are attached to the brain, but the APL say clinical tests have shown the devices to be entirely harmless. The monkeys didn’t mind them too much, at least.

MPL joins other efforts to create artificial limbs including prosthetic fingers from Touch Bionics and the also DARPA sponsored Luke Arm.

The robotic arm itself weighs nine pounds, which is about as much as a real limb, and provides just as much dexterity too. Besides tasks like moving each individual finger and rotating the wrist, it is capable of 22 degrees of freedom, and reacts with speed and agility to the user’s commands. The MPL is a vast improvement on previous models, and can allow patients a level of freedom they never thought they’d have again. Initially, the design will be used on people with spinal-cord injuries, who have lost nearly all movement and would benefit the most from using the robotic limb.

This is all permitting the human-subject tests do go well, but there is no reason why they should not. The revolutionary approach may lead to similar innovations for other limbs, which would help people with all kinds of injuries and diseases lead a much more independent and normal life.

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