Man Controls Cybernetic Hand With Thoughts 81
MaryBethP writes "Scientists in Italy announced Wednesday that Pierpaolo Petruzziello, a 26-year-old Italian who had lost his left forearm in a car accident, was successfully linked to an artificial limb that was controlled by electrodes implanted in his arm and connected to the median and ulnar nerves. He has learned to control the artificial limb with his mind. According to CNet, Petruzziello says he could feel sensations in it, as if the lost arm had grown back again. The BBC has a brief video showing the arm in operation."
woohoo (Score:1)
bring on the cyborgs!!!!
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Ah, but is it a break-through in the field of prosthetics?
Thank goodness (Score:3, Funny)
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But will Gadget ever figure it out? Probably not.
I doubt he will, because Dr. Claw will get him next time. Next time.
That second link (Score:5, Funny)
C'mon, that's terrible even by my standards!
Re:That second link (Score:5, Funny)
You have to hand it to them though, I think they really pulled it off!
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Despite your intended humor, the video makes it look like they have not actually attached it. Which does not seem like that big a surprises to me, since this limb would be so much heaver than a real hand that they would need to equip what remains of his arm with a bio-assist sleeve to allow him to use it in a way that resembles normal. Plus in order to be able to use this new arm for any signficiant portion of time, he would need to carry around an ungodly amount of additional weight in batteries.
I mean thi
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Yes, yes, yes! (Score:2, Interesting)
YES. EXCEPT THAT IS NOT THE HAND SKYWALKER LOST. EITHER OF THEM.
So anyhow, sweet. Amazed at the sensations part just as much if not more than the mental control. How sure can we be it's not just something like phantom limb syndrome? I assume they've done the whole behind a curtain "am I touching your hand" type dealie?
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Anyone smart enough to decipher that post would not only know that, but also the answer to life, the universe and everything.
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Well, they didn't give us any information about tha, nor whether or not there is a feedback system, but let's consider the feasibility: I'm no EE, but wouldn't there be some sort of change in resistance or ... something ... as the motors experienced load? I'm not sure the signal would transmit through relays or whatever they're using, but short of a specifically designed feedback system, is it possible, or likely? The nervous system operates on very low power, I know that much, so is there any sort of signa
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Why yes, as you stated (and as I believe because a) I'm lazy and b) I couldn't imagine the nervous system using any sort of "high" voltage signal)))/*Close those parens!*/ I would think that a feedback system wouldn't be hard to develop, at least on the hardware side. Making something that can be affected by resistance - say, a hand touching the fake arm - shouldn't be diffi
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Send them pretty much anywhere. The brain is very adaptive. Given a few months of use the guy will learn what the different feeelings correspond to. From their his brain will automatically map said feelings. It will quickly become unnoticable. Perhaps slightly different but for the individual they would not care.
I'm basing this off of many experiments, for example people being given vision through sensations in their tongue... The brain figures out
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Finally (Score:1)
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There is no replacement for brain yet, so your eternal mechanical life will eventually turn into an eternal Alzheimer's.
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Not there yet (Score:5, Interesting)
Looking at the video and articles it seems they haven't integrated the whole thing into an artificial hand attached to his arm. The hand he controls is shown separately from his body. Perhaps the unit is too heavy at the moment.
So Ratz can't have his russian military seven function force feedback manipulator just yet.
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Or maybe they're keeping it at a distance and hoping nobody notices that they made him another right hand by accident.
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I think the hand came before the patient.
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Damn, a reasonable explanation. That's not nearly so amusing.
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OT but re your sig which asks why linux.conf.au is actually in nz? Well, according to the website:
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I doubt it. I live in Melbourne. I was actually in Hobart at the same time as the last one. There were lots of Linux people on the ferry going over. I didn't attend because I was on holiday with my son. I will wait for it to come back to Melbourne and try to con my employer into sending me.
I am sure Wellington is a nice place for a conference but it should be called linux.conf.nz.
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I live in Melbourne too! I don't see why an Aussie conference can't be held in Aotearoa though? It's not like it's a long way ... closer than Perth I think. What confused me was the name of the conference: I first thought it was a domain name, but of course it's not. :-)
Re:Not there yet (Score:4, Interesting)
Sounds like the purpose of the test was to test the actual electrode interface and how complex the hand motions could get with it. The duration the electrodes stayed in his arm is the important part. With this test it seems complex cybernetic limbs are basically a done deal. The question is whether or not they can actually hook them up long term without serious rejection problems.
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Sounds like the purpose of the test was to test the actual electrode interface and how complex the hand motions could get with it. The duration the electrodes stayed in his arm is the important part. With this test it seems complex cybernetic limbs are basically a done deal. The question is whether or not they can actually hook them up long term without serious rejection problems.
Makes me wonder if you could build an implanted sensor more like a cochlear implant. No direct electrical connection with the outside. Data and power are transferred both ways by induction.
This raises important questions... (Score:5, Funny)
And, can they give you control without feeling sensation? Because that would totally feel like somebody else's hand...
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http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The+Stranger [urbandictionary.com]
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No, he still gets sensation. That's actually a technology that's been around for a couple of years, now. The nerves that used to go to the tips of the fingers are surgically relocated to convenient locations where the prosthetic will be mounted, and appropriate sensory devices are built into the fingers, which in turn, relay that sensory data back to the appropriate nerve endings. The net result is that the person wearing the arm gets the distinct tactile sensations from his missing limb, via the artificial
it doesn't count as masturbation BUT (Score:2)
scientists have found that the palms get hairy after you do it a while.
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Im still waiting for the scientific community weigh in on whether bonking your own clone is considered as such as well.
Ahh what an age of wizardry we live in!
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Heck, go whole hog. Have two amputees chatting with each other via webcams connect to each other's artificial arm over the Internet. Cybersex will never be the same.
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Two or more amputees in an online masturbation ring?
I've just had a really neat idea for a porno site!
Re:This raises important questions... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Without sensation? Seems dangerous. What if you squeeze too hard? Pull too hard?
Unless he also has a cybernetic wang, there would still be sensation where it counts.
- RG>
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If there is a voice-controlled version, under no circumstances say "Jerk it off!".
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Like, will it still count as masturbation if he uses the cybernetic hand?
Yes, but he will have the option of also calling it "cybersex".
The better for obscene gesturing? (Score:1)
Not to diminish the achievement, but haven't they built him a redundant right hand?
A Start (Score:1)
Optional extras (Score:5, Interesting)
Could be interesting to outfit it with PDA/smartphone/net capabilities linked to a couple of extra feedback wires. You'd be able to develop electronic senses such as orientation, absolute location, driving directions to a destination, knowing when someone had sent you an email, and the direction and distance of practically anything with a Whitepages/Yellowpages entry.
For bonus points, equip your car with a GPS+intertial tracker and cellphone, and you'll be able to find it anywhere on the planet to within a couple of dozen feet. Add in a radio transmitter which can pick up and replicate signals from things like car keys, and you'll be able to find it within that dozen feet, too.
I'm thinking - what about being able to put the hand into virtual mode, so that wrist and finger gestures aren't expressed by the mechanical hardware but are instead used as input to an interface linked to a bunch of macros for the electronics? Add an IR transmitter/recorder, point at the TV, go virtual, and sign the macro for switching on, calling up your favorite channel, and turning up the volume. Or with an IRDA channel, be able to send macro signals to your PC to do whatever you want. Heck, go the whole hog and install WiFi, Bluetooth, a USB port, an acoustic coupler... you'd have the most connected hand on the planet!
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[SIGH] A compass points to the local magnetic north (or south), not to "north" in any other sense.
OK, it may seem trivial to some people, but there's about 5 degrees difference here, and 7 degrees of difference at my last work site. And that site, the magnetic variation changed by nearly 3 degrees across the site, due to the presence of magnetic rock intrusions nearby which hardened un
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God moved the hand (Score:3, Funny)
More proof that God synchronizes mental and physical events. Substance dualists rejoice! ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occasionalism [wikipedia.org]
Why start there? (Score:1)
Imagine the remote control possibilities: Tele-Surgery and both Macro and Micro Waldoes in general (ever wondered what that water molecule "feels" like ?).
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Two right hands? (Score:1)
I wonder if this makes it harder to control (like his hand is back to front), and whether he will have trouble adjusting to a prosthetic left arm later on.
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Interesting (Score:1)
so is it his hand now? (Score:1)
I mean... if someone were to destroy this hand for some reason, would they be sued for damaging his personal property, or for bodily harm?
Seriously.
And what then of the destruction of a "personal" computer, cell phone and/or other gadget (which some can argue are more useful than 1 hand or 1 foot)?
Scary headlines... (Score:3, Funny)
I'm still waiting for the newspaper headlines reporting a nose-picking fatality caused by a short in the sensing circuits!!!
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That or something like the tragic death of Captain Hook.
Looks like snows of yesteryear (Score:1)
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Where the Italian guy is found speaking Portuguese in a British channel.
Native-like Brazilian Portuguese, to be more precise.
From this article (in portuguese language) [geek.com.br] it seems that he was born in Brazil (he has dual italian-brazilian citizenship) and his family strongly kept their italian identity. Also, he is a public servant in Curitiba [wikipedia.org].
Performance enhancement? (Score:1)