DARPA: Bionic Ingenuity

One of my favorite representations of technological advancements is the film Star Wars. I would say ‘future’, but we all know that Star Wars occurred a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away. Right. Onward…

The part that amazed me the most about the film, The Empire Strikes Back, is when Luke Skywalker faces Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel and Luke, being young in the ways of the force, loses his hand in the duel. Only to have it replaced later on by a bionic replica that functioned just as well, if not better, as his original hand. I used to think that we were light years away from technology that advanced, but DARPA convinced me otherwise. It’s really just around the bend.

“Their most recent bionic arm prosthesis can bend at the elbow, rotate at the wrist, and lift at the shoulder.”

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a $55 million dollar project to create a more life like, thought controlled prosthetic arm. Their most recent bionic arm prosthesis can bend at the elbow, rotate at the wrist, and lift at the shoulder. The arm itself can imitate 25 of the 30 motions performed by a natural arm, allowing users to pick up tiny objects such as raisins or even a cup of water. According to Bjorn Carey and Michael Belfiore from popsci.com, a person could conceivably play a piano with DARPA’s thought controlled bionic arm.

I wanted to see how much of an inconvenience losing an arm could be, so I bound my dominant arm to my side and forced myself not to use it for 24 hours. And I have to say that it was one of the most frustrating 24 hours I’ve spent in a very long time. Small things like tying my shoes or cutting a steak were infuriating. Let me not get started on how much fun bathing and using a towel was. I can’t imagine how to bare those things, on top of the mental shock that comes with losing an appendage. My respect and admiration goes out to all those people who suffer these difficulties with grace and stalwart faces.

“My respect and admiration goes out to all those people who suffer these difficulties with grace and stalwart faces.”

It is understandable if you all are wondering how this bionic arm could function by thought. I was wondering that myself. Researches are currently working with what is called, injectable myo-electric sensors (IMES), which are implanted in the shoulder area to detect muscle activity and transmit it to the bionic arm. The sensors themselves are powered wirelessly by a wire coil that is wrapped over the shoulder. That wire coil is also what transmits the commands from the IMES to the computers that are in the bionic arm itself, somewhat similar to the way you would a natural arm.

In order for the arm to actually act on command, researches are using a hydrogen-peroxide pneumatic system in place of the traditional electric motors currently used in robotics. An iridium catalyst is introduced into the hydrogen-peroxide, causing a chemical reaction that drives the arm’s movements. The reason for this is that the electric motors proved to be too weak to drive the arm properly. This pneumatic system allows the arm to carry up to 20lbs and move at what could be considered a descent rate.

I believe DARPA is making a great attempt to relieve the stress and frustrations of those who have had the unfortunate experience of losing an appendage by providing a prosthetic that can be used to eliminate the physical limitation of having only one or no arms. Current mass produced arm prosthetics are for aesthetic purposes more so than assisting the disabled. DARPA hopes to change that by 2009, expecting to release the final product into the FCC’s hands for clinical testing. Click here for a video demonstration of DARPA’s bionic arm.