GOTD: DARPA-Funded Proto 2 Brings Mind Control to Prosthetics

From an incredible  video and article on Popular Mechanics:

“The human arm is a tall order,” says Stuart Harshbarger of Johns Hopkins University. “It can move at remarkable speeds. It’s silent and it heals itself.” Proto 2, the prosthetic arm being developed by Harshbarger and a team of 30 public and private partners, may not be as good as the real thing, but it’s narrowing the gap.

Most myoelectric prosthetic arms move in three ways—they bend at the elbow and rotate at the wrist, and a rudimentary hand clamps shut. The team’s initial Proto 1 device boosted that figure to seven. The Proto 2 allows for 27 different kinds of movement, including individual finger bending. While other myoelectric arms operate in response to muscle movements, the Proto 2 is wired directly to residual nerve fibers: One controls the device merely by thinking. Most remarkably, users can feel with the new arm—80 sensors in the fingertips and palm send signals racing back to the brain. Says Harshbarger, “It’s hard not to get emotional about the progress we’ve made.”

Watch the Video.