Segway Inventor Advances Prosthetics Technology

Thanks to a recent 60 Minutes broadcast, prosthetic technology has been getting a good amount of attention recently. One of the more exciting developments in prosthetics is the so-called DEKA arm (pictured on the right), which is funded by a $100 million Pentagon program called “Revolutionizing Prosthetics.” Named “Luke” after Star War’s Luke Skywalker, the robotic arm goes to impressive lengths in restoring functionality for individuals with arm amputations. Housed in a lightweight carbon shell, the DEKA arm can be used to pick up small items or objects as heavy as 40 lbs (18 kilos). The limb also could be potentially wired to the nervous system to enable the device to be controlled with thoughts.

Over the years, the push to develop a prosthetic limb that can mimic the human arm has grown in scope to the point that it involves more than 300 scientists, including engineers, neuroscientists and psychologists. Perhaps the most-famous scientist involved working on the project is Dean Kamen, founder of DEKA and the creator of the Segway and dozens of medical devices. More information is available from the 60 Minutes website and from the embedded videos below.

Tags: DARPA, DEKA, prosthetics