DEKA Prosthetic Arm Funded for 3 More Years by VA

Posted 15 Jun 2009 at 19:08 UTC (updated 16 Jun 2009 at 03:11 UTC) by steve

The US Department of Veterans Affairs announced another 3 years of funding for the DEKA Prosthetic Arm (aka the "Luke" arm). The 18 DOF robotic arm includes actuated fingers and can be controlled via a foot-operated joystick, shoulder-operated joystick, or myoelectric switches operated by brain implulses. We last mentioned the DEKA Luke arm when it completed a two year DARPA trial period. The DEKA in the name comes from "DEan KAmen" and the "Luke" designation is a Star Wars reference. The new work will be funded by the VA's Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Service. The video clip above shows the DEKA arm in action under the control of the myoelectric interface which allows the patient to control it with their brain using residual nerves.

Impressive, posted 18 Jun 2009 at 17:00 UTC by motters » (Master)

This looks totally sci-fi. I'm wondering whether some of these war veterans will become future roboticists, since some of them will want to know how the arms work and customize them.