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."

Woo...

[Izabael_DaJinn]

You guys should be excited. Think about what this will do for the pen1s enlarg3m3nt industry.

Not only would they be "fully articulated" in the bedroom they would also be "sensitive enough" to pick up flowers & wine beforehand.

Re:Woo...

[Anonymous Coward]

Or, if the arm runs Windows, the penis repairment industry.

More appropriate headline

[s4m7]

Dean Kamen is Finally Back to Inventing Useful Things

No Fair!

[Anonymous Coward]

You're not supposed to RTFA before you post. It could have been from Cool Hand Luke.

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate."

Re:Woo...

[Anonymous Coward]

You guys should be excited. Think about what this will do for the pen1s enlarg3m3nt industry.

Not only would they be "fully articulated" in the bedroom they would also be "sensitive enough" to pick up flowers & wine beforehand.

They are way ahead of you. Check under the "Third Leg" link on the article's page. There's video.

Re:Why stop at "human like" articulation?

[Hal_Porter]

Why only have an elbow and wrist and five fingers? Why not make an articulated arm that has more 'elbow' joints and two opposing digits (read: thumbs). If the brain isn't used to controlling 6 finger/digits, could it learn the task? Surely a wrist that could rotate 180degrees in either direction would be better than our current design.

The glaringly obvious answer is that people want to appear and function just like a "normal" person, and would prefer not to be stared at while they're picking out apples in the grocery department.

Yeah but I could pick up the other shoppers and throw them hundreds of feet if they stared at me. I AM IRONMAN.

luke

[rubycodez]

not named for skywalker, it longs for freedom even as its ordered to dig and fill a hole again and again and wins egg eating contests.

Re:Why stop at "human like" articulation?

[bperkins]

This issue was very thoughtfully covered in Strong Bad Email 47 [homestarrunner.com].

Re:More appropriate headline

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but what about the monkeys? Won't someone think of the monkeys?

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/29/1254259 [slashdot.org]

lightyears

[Digitus1337]

How many lightyears until we can see these things in stores?

Re:Woo...

[LrdDimwit]

Perhaps it's just me, but I am generally using other body parts to pick up the flowers and the wine.

good step in the right direction

[jollyreaper]

Artificial limbs won't truly be kick-ass until they're better than the organic limbs they replace. And they need to make that reverb sproinging sound whenever they do something cool.

Not a huge leap forward.

[mrbluze]

Not only would they be "fully articulated" in the bedroom they would also be "sensitive enough" to pick up flowers & wine beforehand.

So this is a huge grope forward, not a huge leap forward as the title suggests.