Man Controls Two Bionic Arms With The Power Of Thought

It was just yesterday that we talked about a mind-controlled bionic hand, and here we are with double the technology. This is also a DARPA-funded robotic limb which can be controlled through the power of thoughts alone, although we would be dealing with not one, but two of such robotic limbs that ought to make the reality of replacement smart limbs a reality.

Les Baugh of Colorado actually has a couple of bionic arms attached from shoulder level earlier this summer, where he is a participant of the Revolutionizing Prosthetics Program test run over at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. The Modular Prosthetic Limbs (MPL) that Baugh is using has been in development for more than 10 years, but Baugh has been touted to be the “first bilateral shoulder-level amputee” to wear a couple of these MPLs simultaneously – although using those with the power of his mind is not a bed of roses, since he needed to go through a surgical procedure that is known as targeted muscle reinnervation, where nerves that used to control his arms and hands were reassigned.

I don’t know, looking at Baugh certainly makes me happy, knowing that those who have lost their limbs have another chance at a more fulfilling life, and a Star Wars future of prosthetic limbs controlled naturally using one’s mind is another step closer to reality. [Press Release]

Edwin Kee
Categories: Medical, Robots
Tags: bionic, darpa