Engineers develop a mind-controlled prosthetic arm dexterous enough to play piano

by New World Associates; Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory New World Associates; Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

More than 130 veterans of the Iraq war now face the daunting challenge of learning to live with a missing arm. To make that transition easier, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, has launched a $55-million project that pools the efforts of prosthetics experts nationwide to create a thought-controlled bionic arm that duplicates the functions of a natural limb. If all goes well, by 2009 the agency will petition the Food and Drug Administration to put the arm through clinical trials.

This summer the team hit a critical milestone when it finished Proto 2, a thought-controlled mechanical arm-complete with hand and articulated fingers-that can perform 25 joint motions. This dexterity approaches that of a native arm, which can make 30 motions, and trumps the previously most agile bionic arm, the Proto 1, which could bend at the elbow, rotate its wrist and shoulder, and open and close its fingers. A person wearing a Proto 2 could conceivably play the piano.

The next steps are to shrink the battery, develop more-efficient motors, and refine the bulky electrodes used to read electrical signals in muscles. As for making actual music, the wearer is on his own

How it Works

  1. Control System

    Researchers are experimenting with injectible myoelectric sensors (IMES) that detect muscle activity and wirelessly transmit commands to the prosthetic arm. The setup eliminates bulky electrodes glued to the chest. A wire coil wrapped over the shoulder supplies wireless power to the implants and relays signals to computers in the prosthetic that decipher the command and tell the arm to move. The team is also considering implanting electrodes directly on nerves-or in the brain itself-to achieve more natural neural control by 2009.
  2. Power

    Researchers are exploring a hydrogen-peroxide pneumatic system to replace electric motors, which are bulky, slow and weak. The hydrogen peroxide reacts with an iridium catalyst to drive the arm's movements. The wearer would install a fresh hydrogen-peroxide canister each morning.
  3. Flexibility

    The Proto 2 performs 25 joint motions: The shoulder and wrist are capable of roll, pitch and yaw, the elbow can flex, and the fingers and thumbs bend at each knuckle. Each joint brings together two lightweight "bones" made of carbon fiber and aluminum alloys.
  4. Building blocks

    Modular construction-shoulder to elbow, elbow to wrist-allows doctors to adapt the limb to patients' needs.

Armed for Reality



Want to learn more about breakthroughs in electronics, medicine, nanotech, and more?
Subscribe to Popular Science today, for less than $1 per issue!

3 Comments

This "work" is completely useless for potential users and a result of scientist that have never spoken to a limb deficient person. Playing a piano is not want they want to do with a prosthetic arm!
I cannot imagine that this robot hand can move when covered by a cosmetic glove and I`m curious about the size of the battery that can provide this robot with sufficient energy.
And why did they call it "mind-controlled" ? Instead it is controlled by electrical signals from their residual muscles - a well established technique for 50 years.

By the way: hydrogen peroxide poses several risks:
* it can give off vapor that can detonate at normal atmospheric pressure.
* vapors can form sensitive contact explosives with hydrocarbons such as greases.
* it is corrosive, and even domestic-strength solutions can cause irritation to the eyes and skin
just to mention some.

how do you know they dont want to play the piano with a prosthetic arm? and doesn't the mind control signals to muscles. signals from muscles. muscle signals from brain. sounds kind of like mind control, just indirectly from the mind.

30bcf4e2

http://www.akdeniznakliyat.com.tr : evden eve nakliyat
I recommend everyone who has benefited me a lot of information here. Thank you ..



June 2013: American Energy Independence

Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


Online Content Director: Suzanne LaBarre | Email
Senior Editor: Paul Adams | Email
Associate Editor: Dan Nosowitz | Email
Assistant Editor: Colin Lecher | Email
Assistant Editor: Rose Pastore | Email

Contributing Writers:

Kelsey D. Atherton | Email
Francie Diep | Email
Shaunacy Ferro | Email

circ-top-header.gif
circ-cover.gif