Luke Skywalker arm gets the go-ahead
SmartPlanet.com
Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway and numerous breakthrough medical devices, has spent years building what his team calls the "Luke Arm:" an advanced prosthetic that translates signals from a patient's muscles into actions in the mechanical fingers. It's nicknamed for the prosthetic Luke Skywalker receives in The Empire Strikes Back that acts like a real hand.
Now the arm is finally coming to market. Kamen's team has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the device, officially named DEKA Arm System after Kamen's New Hampshire-based company, DEKA Research and Development Corp.
The prosthetic contains electromyogram electrodes to detect contractions in the muscles close to the device. Its computer translates those contractions as signals of the user's desire to move the arm and hand, which the device then does accordingly. The Luke Arm currently has six grip patterns. By selecting a different grip pattern, a wearer can switch from gently gripping a grape to firmly gasping a power tool. In stunning video demonstrations, a man performs tasks such as picking up an egg and depositing it across a table without breaking it.
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