Luke Skywalker's AI hand finally a reality??!...

[Prognosticator]

http://tech.msn.com/products/articlecnet.aspx?cp-documentid=4809672&GT1=10036

Revolutionary mechanical arm provides grip, feel
By Candace Lombardi, Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Remember Luke Skywalker's amazingly lifelike arm replacement in The Empire Strikes Back? A similar type of realistic arm may be in store for injured soldiers.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., announced Thursday that its team has developed a breakthrough prosthetic arm for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 program.

The DARPA program is an initiative to produce by 2009 a mechanical arm that closely mimics the movement and sensory perception of a biological arm. It would then be provided for military personal hurt in the line of duty.

As of the end of February 2007, 897 service men and women have had amputations since the start of the Iraq War in 2003. Of those amputations, 612 were a complete limb, hand or foot, and 285 were fingers and/or toes only, according to Cynthia Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense, who was quoting figures from the Amputee Center at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Charged with leading the joint project, APL was awarded $30.4 million in February 2006 as part of the first phase of the program. The team comprises members from universities, private firms and government agencies.

Johns Hopkins' new Proto 1 arm restores significant function and sensory perception to the wearer and allows eight degrees of motion, according to a statement released by the university. Proto 1 was tested on patients at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago in January and February.

Through an attachment to healthy nerves, the Proto 1 enables the wearer to have a sense of touch and feel strength of grip. In the case of the Proto 1 arm, nerves in the pectoral area were used. The process is known as Targeted Reinnervation and was developed by Dr. Todd Kuiken, the director of the Neural Engineering Center for Bionic Medicine at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

The result was that a wearer was able to re-adjust the prosthetic thumb to manage different types of grips and possess fine motor skills for things like placing a checkers piece into a slot and removing a credit card from his pocket. He could stack plastic cups without crushing them by using sensory feedback to regulate the force of his grip.

The wearer was also able to swing his arms more naturally while walking, all with the use of sensory feedback from the prosthesis instead of vision.

Cool.

 

[ck51100]

Now if only they can make the light saber a reality my life would be perfect....

 

[DarthRekal]

Now if only they can make the light saber a reality my life would be perfect....

Impossible.. light is not FINITE.. the saber would go on forever



as far as the arm... wake me when the Real Darth Vader is being wheeled out od Cedars Sinai!

seriously this is cool

 

[redmarvel]

Is anyone else thinking we'll soon see Cyborgs like Deathlok and Robocop?

Also the title of the thread "AI" is incorrect.
AI = Artificial Intelligence - the arm in Star Wars and the arm being developed are not being given their own intelligence (at least I hope not), but rather they are depending on the intelligence of the wearer to provide the correct signals.

 

[Apollo]

now the star wars fantics will start chopping off their hands to get a robot one...

 

[Erzengel]

I was getting tired of this human hand.

 

[X-Chick]

Someone chop my hand off.

 

[redmarvel]

I didn't know you were part of the American Military X-Chick.

 

[ck51100]

Impossible.. light is not FINITE.. the saber would go on forever

I know....but I can dream can't I?

 

[X-Chick]

I didn't know you were part of the American Military X-Chick.

I will be soon. Just so I can get that hand.

 

[yenaled]

I'm getting me one of those.

 

[Cyrusbales]

Well Kevin Warrick is the leading scientist in Cybernetics, A few years back I saw his latest arm, which had sound sensors so if it's grip slipped, it would clench tighter etc.

Then again he used the internet and a chip in his arm to send his own electrical signals across the atlantic ocean and control the grasp of a cybernetic arm from hundreds of miles away.

He used the same technology to give himself a kind of sonar sense. It was interesting, and this was about 3 or so years ago now, his next step was going to be linking a chip directly to his brain, not heard anything for a while, so maybe he messed up?

 

[Drakon]

Hand, Schmand. Gimmie a leg. And yes, I want robo-plating.

 

[Erzengel]

Great for kicking but you'd need 2 robot legs to run at super speed because you'd just be running in circles.

 

[Prognosticator]

^^It'll come soon enough!

 

[redmarvel]

I will be soon. Just so I can get that hand.

Here's a scary thought... what if it's just a ploy to get young Jedi wanna be's to join the American Military???

 

[X-Chick]

Hand, Schmand. Gimmie a leg. And yes, I want robo-plating.

Ever seen Full Metal Alchemist?

 

[DarthRekal]

I know....but I can dream can't I?

you and me both !t:

 

[chamber-music]

I want my damn Hover Board from Back To The Future part 2

 

[Lord Valumart]

I want my damn Hover Board from Back To The Future part 2

you do know that they were real right?

 

[raybia]

Impossible.. light is not FINITE.. the saber would go on forever

That is true but that is not how the light saber works. The light is actually bent back into the hilt.

 

[raybia]

you do know that they were real right?

Are you serious? link please.

 

[Motown Marvel]

oh man, these guys are gonna have a b!tc# of a time at airport security!

 

[bulok]

I know....but I can dream can't I?

The closest we can probably come to a light saber would be a plasma saber

 

[Movies205]

That's all fine and dandy... but the soldier most likely will still have to use the other hand due to chafing