A (Nearly) Bionic Arm
From: Sensors Magazine - July 2006 - page 37
By: Stephanie vL Henkel

The current conflict in Iraq is proving to be a war of amputations. If it's
any consolation, an extremely well engineered prosthetic, the Boston Digital
Arm (BDA), promises to reproduce much of a lost limb's functionality. The
BDA's operating principle has been well demonstrated - the user's remaining
muscles and nerves activate the device and control its movements. This arm
goes beyond conventional prosthetics, though, by having five axes of motion
as well as a variable gripping force in the hand that gives the user the
ability to "sense" a held object. 

Photo:
http://www.sensorsmag.com/sensors/data/articlestandard//sensors/292006/358637/i1.jpg

Caption: The challenge - give a prosthetic arm additional functionality

Read the entire article at:
http://www.sensorsmag.com/sensors/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=358637

Links:
Liberating Technologies
http://www.liberatingtechnologies.com/

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Previous articles

Dr. Todd A. Kuiken: Bionic Sensation
From: BusinessWeek - 01/09/2006
By: Michael Arndt

Bionic humans such as Colonel Steve Austin on the TV show "The Six Million
Dollar Man" might become a reality one day, says Dr. Todd A. Kuiken, a
department director at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and an
associate professor at Northwestern University. Kuiken has developed the
first brain-powered arm, which is being used by Jesse Sullivan, a former
utility worker who lost his limbs in 2001 when he accidentally touched a
high-voltage line. Collaborating with Allen Taflove, a Northwestern professor
of electrical and computer engineering, Kuiken has found a way to make the
stop-and-go signals of the body's muscle system stronger so that computers
can interpret them. The computerized arm is wired to nerve stumps in
Sullivan's chest, and it is controlled by electrochemical impulses. Today,
Sullivan can dress and feed himself, shave, vacuum, work in a garden, toss a
ball, and even determine whether the object picked up is hard or soft, hot or
cold. Despite such advances, Kuiken says bionic humans are likely decades
away. Robotic limbs will make life easier for people, including soldiers, who
lose arms and legs, considering the mechanical device, with straps and cable,
that most at-the-shoulder amputees receive has been used since the Civil War.
Still, Kuiken says advanced robotic limbs would not compare to the human body. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_02/b3966025.htm

Links:
'Bionic' Arm Brings Back Sense of Touch
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0506230208jun23,1,7950510.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Prosthetic arm boasts sense of touch
http://www.worldhealth.net/p/prosthetic-arm-boasts-sense-of-touch-2005-06-23.html

Introducing Jesse Sullivan, the World's First "Bionic Man"
http://www.ric.org/bionic/index.php

Todd A. Kuiken, MD, PhD
http://www.ric.org/search/kuiken.php

Brain waves drive man's bionic arm
http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/09/25/bionic.arm/index.html

`Bionic' arm brings back sense of touch
http://www.smpp.northwestern.edu/ChicagoTribuneBionicArmarticle.pdf

The Body Electric: Recent Developments in Bionic Technology - Upper Extremities
http://www.amputee-coalition.org/inmotion/may_jun_04/body_electric.html

A Toast to the Bionic Man
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/medicine/6123dc8a25076010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/generaltechnology/c83d87fd92c26010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

Neuro-Controlled Bionic Arm
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/bown2005/personalhealth/19e6ee82ea447010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

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'Bionic' Arm Brings Back Sense of Touch
From: Chicago Tribune - 06/23/2005
By: Kelly Kennedy

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago director Todd Kuiken has invented a
prosthetic arm capable of giving its wearers the sense of feel. The device
has been tested on Jesse Sullivan, a former lineman for a power company who
lost his arms after grabbing a live high-tension wire. By pulling out the
four main nerves used to connect the arms and fastening them just under the
skin on the chest, Kuiken was able to recreate the sensation of feeling in
the mechanical hand. The prosthesis has a computer in the forearm wired to
the hand and a "plunger" device on his chest. The hand sends signals to the
plunger through the wires, thus pushing the skin and simulating the nerves in
Sullivan's chest to simulate sensation in the hand. If one of the mechanical
hand's fingers is touched, Sullivan can feel it and identify which finger it
was. He can even sense hot and cold and, with the incorporation of six
motors, can put on his hat in one movement just by thinking about it. The new
arm is still in the experimental stage of development, but Kuiken expects to
have Sullivan use it by the end of the year. It has cost about $100,000 to
make in parts alone. The Rehabilitation Institute has received a grant from
the National Institutes of Health to fit a woman veteran with a prosthetic
arm. It was also awarded $5 million from the Searle Funds at the Chicago
Community Trust to establish the Searle Program for Neurological Restoration.
Institute researchers expect to help patients control wheelchairs though
brain/computer interaction and to communicate by typing messages with
thought. Kuiken wants to develop a prosthetic leg that would allow amputees
to "feel" when they take steps. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0506230208jun23,1,7950510.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

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Prosthetic arm boasts sense of touch

What was once just fiction is becoming reality. Artificial limbs are getting
closer to the real thing. At the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
Wednesday, the latest marriage between man and metal was unveiled.
Researchers say they have the first person in history to ever have felt with
his prosthetic hand.  

Jesse Sullivan does the thinking, and his new bionic arm follows his command.
It literally responds to his thoughts the way a natural arm would. This is
the latest in what's known as a myoelectric prosthesis.  

"We're taking the nerves that used to go to his arm and transferring then to
some fresh skin and muscle so his brain doesn't know that this isn't his arm
he feel," said Dr. Todd Kuiken, amputee services, Rehabilitation Institute of
Chicago. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.worldhealth.net/p/prosthetic-arm-boasts-sense-of-touch-2005-06-23.html

---

Links:

Introducing Jesse Sullivan, the World's First "Bionic Man"
http://www.ric.org/bionic/index.php

Todd A. Kuiken, MD, PhD
http://www.ric.org/search/kuiken.php

Brain waves drive man's bionic arm
http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/09/25/bionic.arm/index.html

`Bionic' arm brings back sense of touch
http://www.smpp.northwestern.edu/ChicagoTribuneBionicArmarticle.pdf

The Body Electric: Recent Developments in Bionic Technology - Upper
Extremities 
http://www.amputee-coalition.org/inmotion/may_jun_04/body_electric.html

