Luke, I am your double blind, placebo controlled phase two investigational medical device trial funding officer

You probably already saw this, but I had to post it as well. The Deka Luke Arm is ready for phase II funding. This the rockin Dean Kamen arm. Also, the Hopkins APL Revolutionizing Prosthetics gets a second round of funding.

Also, no need to report these, but check out the related links on BoingBoing (below).

Direct Link. Link to tech diagram.

Here are the reports (note the update on Medgadget).
BoingBoing, Medgadget, Engadget, Slashdot

Kamen arm demoed

Engadget has a brief look at a rare DARPA arm demo. This is the Dean Kamen flavor of DARPA arms, and there's a nice little interview with footage below. No more fuzzy spy videos - everything is crystal clear. The arm is controlled by an exoskeleton type system on a staff member, and there is a little talk of the artificial skin. Sweet!

DARPA arm

I'll post more on this later (post prelim), but Wired has a nice overview of the DARPA arm project. They make mention of the Deam Kamen arm as well, and that the current control mechanism for both is myoelectric (EMG pads recording rerouted, off site, or residual muscle movement).

I just thought I'd mention that the reasons many of my posts are relate to robotic prostheses are that:
1) They make for good media, so they get plenty of coverage
2) They represent something of a parallel but separate line from what I do (decoding = neuroscience, prosthesis = engineering)
3) Aside from implantable stimulation systems, artificial prosthetics are the Mecca of neuroprosthesis. Cursor movement is great, but it doesn't tie your shoe. Additionally, they provide the possibility of extending the human body. In Sci-Fi Fantasy Future Land, there is always the possibility of having more than two arms (you laugh, but there's no evidence that this would not be possible!)

Dean Kamen arm update

About two-three months ago, footage leaked of the prosthetic arm that Segway creator Dean Kamen was designing. It was shaky cameraphone footage without any audio. Well, looky here! We got some annotation from the man himself. Key bits:
- skin designed that looks as good natural skin
- the arm weighs 9 lbs
- fits into the 50% range for female body frames (50% of females have arms this size - I assume the structure can be expanded for men)
- 14 degrees of freedom
- titanium
- demoed with an exoskeleton control, ultimate goal is to provide haptic feedback as well.

I am particularly impressed by the fluidity of the movements, like when he begins to reach for the pad of paper.