Dean Kamen: Natural vs Artificial Arms

Segway inventor Dean Kamen has been working on increasingly capable prosthetic arms (see http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/feb08/5957 ). Will healthy individuals ever choose a bionic arm over their natural one?

Taken from interview by IEEE Spectrum; full video available at http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/video?id=281

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• dean
• kamen
• prosthetic
• arm
• luke
• bionic
• limb
• artificial
• gadget
• robotic
• electronics

[AnEvilBastard]

I would probably trade my shitty left arm for a decent robotic one. However I would need at least a retractable blade and maybe a grappling hook.

[lordofudead]

@Reznoob the chimp still had to take some time to get used to the arm, i was talking more about how if i lop and arm of i can stick another on and use it like nothing ever happened. all we can do is just set it so that twitching certain muscles with move the arm, not so much as the robot arm, is your arm. i could be wrong however

[Reznoob]

@lordofudead They gave a chimp an arm much less advanced than the one shown here. With little time, the chimp chose to feed itself, quite efficiently, with the robotic arm rather than using its own. This arm is even more capable of doing so, and with a bit more time it will be perfected. The hardest part of this technology has already been accomplished: Making an arm comparable in dexterity and weight to a human arm, that is usable even by a man with no arms. Here on out, it's all polishing.

[Kaevar]

@ForceOfJustice Punch through the girls, too?

[lordofudead]

if they made a biotic arm that synced perfectly with the brain waves of the arm that i had lost i would so go bionic, maybe in the next 20 years this will come true, full metal arm for the win

[justicetrooper]

I'd only take a bionic arm if my regular one didn't work.

[ForceOfJustice]

I would take it if it were full metal, armored, and had as much, if not more, mobility than a regular human arm. I want to be able to punch through walls!

[Craydon]

I'd take one if it were comparable to my natural arm, maybe even a little worse.

[zlayzer]

I would gladly Take a bionic arm aslong as it is better then my natural one