`Bionic' Arm Brings Back Sense of Touch

bdcrazy writes "Two way communication with prosthetic devices allows man who lost both arms in an accident to feel hot and cold, to sense objects and to actually move the prosthetic device to pick things up and put them down. "

Nice

[natron 2.0]

It is well and good until the arms short circuit and try to kill him...

Flashback

[lukewarmfusion]

...to robot pricking each finger and palm, one by one, as the patient says "ow!" and then wrapping the prosthetic arm in a black glove...

Step 2

[Nytewynd]

The next step is finding out that Darth Vader is your daddy.

Fast enough?

[Anonymous Coward]

Would the user be able to sense that his arm is in liquid-hot MAAGMAAA before it melted?

Old, artificial arm joke

[winkydink]

This reminds me of the old joke about the voice-actuated artificial arm.

They finally attach one to an armless human patient and it goes like this.

The guy says, "Arm, scratch my nose". And the arm does it.

"Amazing!", says the guy.

"Arm, sign my name." The arm does it.

This continues for quite a while. Finally when the guy's alone.
He says, "Arm, take off my pants." The arm complies.

He looks at the arm, and then at his penis and says, "OK arm, jerk it off!"

cheaper than I expected

[justforaday]

So far it's only cost about $100,000, which is far cheaper than the $6,000,000 that was originally estimated. Maybe we'll get a little closer to that price once another arm is added, and some legs and a head and body...

OOoooh

[TCaptain]

"We can rebuild him. We have the technology.
We have the capability to make the world's first Bionic man.
Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before.
Better . . . stronger . . . faster."

Non-binary feedback

[UltimateWager]

The article describes being able to feel different levels of pressure in addition to different temperatures. It sounds like an impressive level of feedback.

Anybody want to take bets on how long it takes for a Linux dist. to be built for it?

Re:Yes but...

[CyricZ]

Your link is broken. But I suspect something happened to his penis. Could you elaborate? How was it cut off? Did some machinery in a shop explode and tear his penis off? Or did a trout eat it?

Re:Old, artificial arm joke

[mat catastrophe]

You can make this joke worse by adding the following:

The guy then screams in pain, "Oh, fuck me!"

Re:Nice

[CorporateWhoremone]

lineman for a Tennessee power company, Sullivan in 2001 grabbed a high-tension wire carrying 7,400 volts of electricity, which incinerated his arms. If his 12V arms shorted I don't think it would even phase this guy.

Masturbating.

[Poromenos1]

Masturbating without a sense of touch is way better though, it doesn't feel like you're doing it... Not that I'd know! :P

Relocated arm nerves

[nizo]

Sullivan's prosthesis has a computer in the forearm that is wired to a mechanical hand and to a "plunger" device on his chest. The hand sends signals up the wires to the plunger, which pushes the skin. That stimulates the nerves in his chest to transmit sensations to the brain as if the nerves were still connected to his real hand.
On Wednesday, when Kuiken touched a spot on Sullivan's chest, Sullivan said: "Oh, that's right between the finger and thumb on the back side of the hand."
If Kuiken touches one of Sullivan's prosthetic fingers, Sullivan can feel it and say which finger it is.

Wow. I just know he is glad he can still play the "pull my finger" game with his grandkids.

The 'burning' question still remains...

[Mikey Rowan]

Does he run linux?

Re:Step 2

[Eclypser]

No oo ooo oooo ooooo

Obligatory Red Dwarf Scene

[Cr0w T. Trollbot]

KRYTEN: Okay, now let's recap: the limb is connected to neurons which run up to the left hemisphere of your brain, which controls the right side of your body. Now, all you have to do is merely command the arm to do something, and it obeys. Now, let's practice. Right, concentrate, sir. I want you to think: "arm - pick up the ball".

LISTER: Okay.

KRYTEN: Now just think: "I will pick up the ball"

LISTER: I will pick up the ball.

KRYTEN: That's right, good, now, concentrate.

LISTER: *I will pick up the ball*.

KRYTEN: Okay, now *really* think: Hand --

LISTER: I will pick up the ball.

KRYTEN: -- pick up the ball. That's right, that's right.

LISTER: *Pick up the ball*.

KRYTEN: Pick up the ball. Hand, pick up the ball! That's right, now *keep* going, sir! Pick up the ball! Now, focus down onto that and keep the thought, sir! Hand, pick up the ball!

LISTER grunts, effort twisting his feature as the hand lies motionless

KRYTEN: That's right, sir, now keep going, now *really think*, now. Hand, pick up the ball! Now let's really get it going, sir!

LISTER: Pick up the ball! *Pick up the ball*!

KRYTEN: REALLY START TO GO NOW, SIR!

LISTER: HAND, PICK UP THE BALL

KRYTEN: NOW LET'S KEEP MOVING! KEEP ON, SIR, YOU *CAN* DO IT!

LISTER: HAND, PICK UP THE BALL!

KRYTEN: YOU'RE GOING TO MOVE THAT HAND, SIR! YOU'RE *GOING* TO MOVE IT! MOVE THE HAND, SIR!! LISTER: HAND! PICK UP THE BALL!! PICK UP THE BALL!!

KRYTEN: YES SIR! YES! WE'RE STARTING TO MOVE, NOW! YES! IT'S DEFINITELY MOVING, SIR! YES!! Oh! Bravo, sir!!

LISTER grabs the ball and sets it three or four inches away.

- Crow T. Trollbot

jerking off....

[super_ogg]

That's all he wants the arm to be able to do without tearing his dick off.
ogg

Re:Cost Prohibitive

[markana]

Yeah, but $6mil *used* to get you an arm, two legs, and an eye. Now it's just an arm.

I guess that's inflation for you...

Without a sense of touch in the penis or the hand?

[CyricZ]

Do you prefer not feeling your hand on the penis, or not feeling the feelings of the penis in your hand?

Re:OOoooh

[Anonymous Coward]

"We can rebuild him. We have the technology.
But I don't want to spend a lot of money..."

*runs out with a trashcan leg and a rake for an arm*

Re:Non-binary feedback

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

The article describes being able to feel different levels of pressure in addition to different temperatures. It sounds like an impressive level of feedback.

Anybody want to take bets on how long it takes for a Linux dist. to be built for it?

About 5 years, 1 year for the guy to learn how to type "make menuconfig" with his toes, and another 4 for gentoo to finish compiling.

Re:You Know...

[Anonymous Coward]

"but how about feeling a woman?"

you said it yourself, they already have ones that can feel cold...

*posted anonymously to protect myself from being beaten to death with my own ripped off arm

Re:Prosthetic brain?

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

I don't mean to sound like an insentive asshole

You definitely should consider being fitted with a prosthetic asshole that can feel hot and cold and sense objects.

Usage stats

[Quiet_Desperation]

"For some reason his right arm is showing more wear than the left," said Dr. Todd Kuiken. "Especially around the fingers and palm. We're not sure what's up with that."

Re:cheaper than I expected

[lgw]

Six million dollars total, perhaps?

Re:cheaper than I expected

[dubiousx99]

Ok so we now know the exact cost of an arm, when will they do a leg so we can finally know how much an arm and a leg really cost?

Re:Nice

[geekster]

I was sure you were going to say "... until someones looses an eye"

"So human! Does this feel hot or cold to you!?" *poke* *poke* *poke*
"aaaaarrrrrhhhg!!"

Correction:

[game kid]

"We can rebuild him. We have the technology.
We have the capability to make the world's first Bionic man.
In fact, we have some good news.

"We just saved a bunch of money on our car insurance
by switching to GEICO."

--The Six Million Dollar Invoice

Re:Prosthetic brain?

[Linker3000]

Where I did my electronics engineering apprenticeship, we had a guy who had suffered a similar accident. His whole nervous system was shot to pieces and he had to wear tinted glasses because his eyes became sensitive to light. He had two claws for arms...and worked as a draughtsman in the drawing office!

One day he was in front of me at a drinks vending machine and he asked me to put the coins in for him as this was about the only thing he couldn't do with his claws. He punched the buttons and out came a cup of coffee. Just as he went to pick it up, the plastic 'splash door' on the front of the cup area (which was stuck up) came down and knocked the cup, spilling coffee over his claw.

"Damn", he said, "but at least I didn't get burned!".

He was a really nice guy.