Prosthetic Limbs
Always on the cutting edge of technology, our friends at DARPA have been working on creating new and improved prosthetic limbs. Advances in prosthetic limbs have allowed engineers to create limbs that rival, or even surpass, actual human body parts.
A recent technology, neural integration, has been at the forefront of these advances. Neural integration involves surgically implanting wireless devices into the user, allowing them to control their prosthetic limbs using their thoughts. This allows the user to adapt seamlessly to their new limb and have full control right off the bat.
Of course, new control technology would be worthless without improved limbs, which is why new designs are popping up that allow for human-like dexterity and freedom. An arm with 26 degrees of freedom is even making its way through the FDA this year. This new arm allows prosthetic limbs to do tasks that used to be impossible for old technology. The arm allows complicated procedures such as cooking or playing an instrument to be performed with ease.
Wounded service members are now capable of returning to work, and their normal lives with thanks to prosthetic limbs. Over a thousand amputees have returned to active duty since January 1st of this year, a truly impressive amount of people have been helped by this technology.
It's amazing to see what's being done with prosthetics, and here's hoping the advances keep on coming.
A recent technology, neural integration, has been at the forefront of these advances. Neural integration involves surgically implanting wireless devices into the user, allowing them to control their prosthetic limbs using their thoughts. This allows the user to adapt seamlessly to their new limb and have full control right off the bat.
Of course, new control technology would be worthless without improved limbs, which is why new designs are popping up that allow for human-like dexterity and freedom. An arm with 26 degrees of freedom is even making its way through the FDA this year. This new arm allows prosthetic limbs to do tasks that used to be impossible for old technology. The arm allows complicated procedures such as cooking or playing an instrument to be performed with ease.
Wounded service members are now capable of returning to work, and their normal lives with thanks to prosthetic limbs. Over a thousand amputees have returned to active duty since January 1st of this year, a truly impressive amount of people have been helped by this technology.
It's amazing to see what's being done with prosthetics, and here's hoping the advances keep on coming.
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
