Huge Leap Forward In Robotic Limb Replacement

BlueshiftVFX sends us to Wired for some video of the impressive, mind-controlled prosthetic robot arm invented by Dean Kamen. "Kamen's arm, dubbed 'Luke' (after Skywalker, I assume), is an incredibly sophisticated bit of engineering that's lightyears ahead of the clamping 'claws' that many amputees are forced to use today. The arm is fully articulated, giving the user the same degrees of movement as a natural arm, and is sensitive enough to pick up a piece of paper, a wineglass, or even a grape without mishap."

:-( Insurance

[lantastik]

I can't tell you how excited I would be if any insurance company on the planet would actually pay for this. I have a friend who lost his left arm fighting in the name of our country. So far three different insurance carriers have all denied him any kind of advanced prosthetic. It's sad...

"Named after Skywalker, I assume"

[empaler]

That snippet really sums up the quality of the linked article.
In both the linked pages from the Wired article, it is explained in the first paragraph that, yes, this is inspired by Luke's prosthetic hand. All Things Digital article [allthingsd.com], Gizmodo article [gizmodo.com].

Re::-( Insurance

[s4m7]

If he was in the military, why is he dealing with insurance carriers at all?

Yes because VA hospitals are great and there's always room in them. They just hand out whatever care you want because you Served Your Country.

No seriously the republicans just blocked the expansion of VA benefits.

Re::-( Insurance

[purpleraison]

He is entitled to treatment from the Veterans Administration if he was in the U.S. military when he lost it. If he is not being treated, then the best recourse would be to file a complaint with the Veterans Administration and/or to his local Senator (or other political schmuck).

By default, when you outprocess from active duty, all conditions that were treated while on active duty may be considered for continuing treatment and disability payment.

There are also lawyers who help veterans get access to these benefits, who work for the V.A. -- so there is no charge for their services, so I suppose the lawyer would be the first person to contact.

Another not-article reading whiner.

[Anonymous Coward]

Umm, wrong. While direct mental control isn't the only system discussed, they clearly did say that they had gotten it controlled directly from the mind. RTFA before whining that the subject is wrong. I hate people that are in such denial about their own ignorance, that they seek out places to try to correct others. No one knows everything, not even you. Accepting that is an early step on the path towards intellectual enlightenment.

Re::-( Insurance

[couchslug]

"I have a friend who lost his left arm fighting in the name of our country. So far three different insurance carriers have all denied him any kind of advanced prosthetic. It's sad..."

I'm a vet and I smell trollage. "name of our country" - WTF?? Branch of service would do for a start.

No private carrier would even be involved with a combat injury, and actual denial of care would be grounds
for calling up the VA chain of command with a parallel chat with local and state elected officials. The VA has
screwed up but there are plenty of folks willing to raise a stink in behalf of a legit claim. Join the DAV (Disabled American Veterans) and the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) for a start.

Re:Another not-article reading whiner.

[foniksonik]

ahemmmm.... muscles ARE controlled by the mind... voluntary and involuntary. The method they used was to 'train' the prosthetic by asking the guy to do something, seeing how the arm responded to his mental commands/instincts/whatever, then re-calibrated the arm to do the action... with a few days of training you could have the arm responding to a large range of voluntary coordinations.

Re:Mecha on the moon

[Robert1]

Yes you are. When I think of miniaturized wearable prosthetics I don't think about how exciting it would be to control giant robots or "Mecha," whatever that is. Also, had you actually watched the video, they tell you the guy with the 3rd arm had it controlled by someone off camera. Regardless, some actual info about your statement:

Yeah, that's not new at all. Surgeons have been using remote robotics for YEARS to do micro-surgery. Recently they've even started to do telesurgery, where the surgeon experienced in one particular procedure lives half way around the world and uses a robotic interface to work with the robot in the operating room thousands of miles away.

There's really no barrier to using it for moon robots, although I can't imagine the benefit of directly controlling them. Plus, there's like a 2.5 second lag which would make it a chore to directly control. Basically it would be pretty stupid and worthless to have a direct interface like that. Anyway, all the mars probes and such are essentially the same thing, none of them are really automated and have to have everything done by direct input from NASA. Of course, their input is keyboards and buttons since they have to plot out what the rover/probe will do exactly as physical speed limits stop them from ever controlling something in real time.

To put it more simply, you'll only ever be able to use something like this (direct input) when controlling something on Earth or reasonable close - like something on the ISS.

Re::-( Insurance

[conlaw]

No, based on experiences I have witnessed, the best first contact is your local American Legion, VFW or DAV representative. He or she knows exactly how the system works and how to get your needs met. They often have an office in the VA Hospital and title something like Service Liaison or something else equally unmemorable.

Re::-( Insurance

[93 Escort Wagon]

Yes because VA hospitals are great and there's always room in them. They just hand out whatever care you want because you Served Your Country.

I agree with the general sentiment you've expressed; but you don't have the logistics quite correct. The VA system and the military health system are largely separate, somewhat parallel organizations (when my career military father fell ill with a terminal illness, I learned a lot about this). That's part of the problem - the reduncancy of these two hugely bureaucratic systems. The VA is supposed to be there for exactly this situation; but the military also has its own rehab and long-term care programs. In my experience what was best for the patient fell second to the turf war between these groups. Thank goodness my mom was patiently advocating for my dad, figured out the system (while there are people within the system whose job it is to help with this, they are not actually easy to find!), and eventually got him switched to VA care. At that point he was treated pretty well (not meant as an indictment of his individual military care givers; but that system is not particularly well suited to long-term care).

I would think that, as a country, we could provide much better care - and still save some money - by separating out military health care from the military programs, combining it with a revamped VA and making it just one program that serves all branches + veterans/retirees.

Re:Why stop at "human like" articulation?

[barzok]

Because body part replacement is a bitch and something you do because you have to, not because you want to. My father recently had his hip replaced because he took an odd fall - his femur broke just below the ball, and the given his relatively young age and activity level, a full Titanium replacement (ball and socket) was deemed to be the best option for him. The bones were in perfect condition, he just landed on it in such a way that it broke.

He's going to have some degree of limp for the rest of his days and walk with a cane. He has a list of things that he either can't do, or has to be extremely careful while doing (mundane things like bending over to tie his shoes even). His doctors and therapists have done a terrific job - but there's only so much that can be done.

Even if a replacement body part would have "more capabilities" than OEM parts, the problems that go along with the actual replacement may make it more trouble than it's worth.

Re:[e-mail]

[SlashWombat]

In the second video, it was stated that the arm weight was modeled on a womens arm. I think 8.8 pounds was the stated figure, which does not seem like much considering the arm appears to offer the same range of movements as a normal arm.

I was a bit curious that the nerves were wired to chest muscles ... A bionic ear (cochlea implant) used to use a small rubbery gadget with 64 "needles" that would prick into the aural nerve when the rubber was wraped around it. (which gave 32 channels to excite that bundle of nerve fibres.) I am surprised something like that wasn't employed (in reverse ... as pick-ups) in at least some of the experiments.

Re:Human Rights Management

[Worthless_Comments]

Democracy is the worst form of government ... except all the others that have been tried.

It's a lot less misleading when you actually finish the quote.

It's been done....

[Bones3D_mac]

Have you never seen the incredibly bad B-flick "Space Truckers"? It pretty much defines robo-penis to a fault.