Advanced prosthetic arm readies for clinical trials

Dean Kamen’s “Luke arm” has, unfortunately, arrived at the end of its two-year funding. Its fate now rests with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which will hopefully allow the project to continue and provide more funding.

If DARPA gives the green light, the Luke arm (yes, named for the prosthetic of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars) will begin clinical trials. Pending those and the approval of the FDA, veterans could have a chance at wearing this arm by next year.

The project started in 2005 in an effort to replace today’s outdated prosthetic arms. As Kamen puts it, “With prosthetic arms, we’re in the Flintstones.” The Luke arm seeks to fix this by providing an advanced and easy to use prosthesis that can be strapped on without much fuss.

This prosthetic will be controlled with noninvasive measures using an interface somewhat like a joystick. It will provide a ground-breaking 18 degrees of freedom, as opposed to a measly 3 degrees provided by today’s technologies.

We hope that DARPA provides the funding needed for the project to continue, as the Luke arm seems to be a much better alternative than anything we have today.

[Via IEEE Spectrum]