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/ --- 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 --- '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 --- 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