DailyDirt: Prosthetic Limbs -- Getting Better All The Time

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Wed, Jul 18th 2012 5:00pm — Michael Ho

One of the most inspiring examples of a person using prosthetic limbs is Oscar Pistorius (aka the "Blade Runner") -- who will be the first leg amputee to compete with carbon fiber feet at the London Olympics. Pistorius was previously disqualified from the 2008 Olympics, but he'll be allowed to compete this year, potentially paving the way for other athletes to move over from the Paralympics. Here are just a few technological advances for artificial limbs that could create some cyborg-olympic athletes.

Connecting severed nerves with robotic limbs needs a direct neural-prosthetic interface that could be made out of biocompatible polymers. The research could create prosthetics that are directly controlled by a user's thoughts, but such a system is still many years away from being a reality. [url]
Paralyzed rats with spinal cord damage were given robotic legs that could respond to commands from the rats' brains, and these rats re-learned how to walk with several weeks of training. Maybe someday these little cyborgs will be as big as the Zhu Zhu pet craze... [url]
Brain-computer interfaces are improving quite a bit, and one patient named S3 has 96 hair-sized electrodes implanted in her brain that can control a robotic arm well enough to lift a glass for a drink. The device used by S3 is a new version of Braingate that requires extensive training, but presumably, the technology will get even better and allow more quadriplegic people to have robotic help. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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Filed Under: braingate, cyborg, hmi, neural-prosthetic interface, oscar pistorius, prosthetic limbs, robotic arms

9 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 18 Jul 2012 @ 5:17pm

I for one welcome our new cyborg athelete overlords
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Jul 2012 @ 5:36pm

using my own lungs like a sucker
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21634253@N03/2461434304/

Homer: Also I think I'm getting a bed sore. What do you have to do to get turned round here [she begins]. Hey, what's Lucky hooked up to?

Woman: Ugh. A respirator, it's breaths for him.

Homer: And here I am using my own lungs like a sucker. And how come everyone gets a bed pan and I have to walk all away over there!
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Pixelation, 18 Jul 2012 @ 6:05pm

I'm wondering when they will start testing adding extra limbs. How well will our brains cope with 2 extra arms and a prehensile tail?
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- Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 18 Jul 2012 @ 8:10pm
  
  Re: I'm wondering when they will start testing adding extra limbs.
  There have already been people born with extra fingers and toes, and even some really rare ones with extra legs and lower body parts through dipygus conjoinment--like conjoined twins, except since the division is below rather than above, there is only a single brain and nervous system connected to the extra parts.
  
  I don�t recall any fMRI or such scans ever being done on such individuals, to try to find out how things are wired. The brain may turn out to be more flexible than we can imagine.
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  - drew (profile), 19 Jul 2012 @ 1:53am
    
    Re: Re: I'm wondering when they will start testing adding extra limbs.
    "The brain may turn out to be more flexible than we can imagine"
    The brain is an awesome tool. Check out the work of Bach Y Rita and his work on using the tongue to see with: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bach-y-Rita
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Jul 2012 @ 12:53am
  
  Re:
  Cat years prostethics for humans aka Necomimi.
  Youtube: Girl to Cat Girl! - Necomimi Comes to the US! (Review) (ps: the girl is annoying, but she does review it and the video is legal)
  
  Cost: $110 bucks.
  
  Also you can see the new bionic eyes coming out this summer.
  
  Prosthetics eyes aka bionic eyes, decoding the human brain code.
  
  Youtube: TED - Sheila Nirenberg: A prosthetic eye to treat blindness
  
  BBC: Light-powered bionic eye invented to help restore sight (May 2012)
  
  ExtremeTech: The laser-powered bionic eye that gives 576-pixel grayscale vision to the blind
  
  Cost: $115 K
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Rekrul, 18 Jul 2012 @ 10:38pm

Brain-computer interfaces are improving quite a bit, and one patient named S3 has 96 hair-sized electrodes implanted in her brain that can control a robotic arm well enough to lift a glass for a drink.

And it probably only costs around $2,000,000. At that price, every paralyzed patient can get one!
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- drew (profile), 19 Jul 2012 @ 1:54am
  
  Re:
  And how much of that cost is the licensing of patents...
  :�\
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jul 2012 @ 12:55am

Two other prosthetics that nobody mention here.

Youtube: TED - Sheila Nirenberg: A prosthetic eye to treat blindness

Youtube: Girl to Cat Girl! - Necomimi Comes to the US! (Review)
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