Disability Technology & News

Bionic Man Moves Limbs

This is an interesting article; definiately checkout the orginal new piece from local6.com for additional pictures and resources. Glad to see there’s technology that cam make this happen. Bioengineering Medicine is a hot field; once nanotechnology fully takes off, these robotic limbs will be more efficient, reliable, and aesthetically pleasing.

Bionic Man Moves Artificial Arm With BrainBreakthrough Could Change Lives Of Amputees, Patients With Spinal Cord Injuries
June 23, 2005

CHICAGO — Researchers have developed artificial arms that can be moved as it if they were real limbs, simply by thinking about making them move, according to Local 6 News.

The world’s first bionic man, Jesse Sullivan, 54, accidentally touched live wires while working as a utility lineman in Tennessee. He suffered severe burns, causing him to lose his arms.

SLIDESHOW: Images Of Bionic Man
IMAGES: More strange images featured on Local6.com

Now, Sullivan is the first to try out the most sophisticated artificial arms ever designed.

Surgeons attached his arm nerves to healthy muscles in his chest.

“So now when Jess thinks, close hand, the impulse is picked up by a transmitter, and goes to his hand,” doctor Todd Kuiken said. “He thinks, closes hand and it does.”

Sullivan’s hand rotates 360 degrees, according to the report. When Sullivan’s brain tells his arm to do something, it’s done in seconds and he has feeling in the bionic arm.

“This gives me a lot of hope,” Sullivan said. “I was an independent kind of guy. I didn’t ask anybody for anything. If I could do it, I did it.”

Eventually tiny sensors in the fingertips will allow Sullivan to feel texture and temperature.
Doctors at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago said the breakthrough could change the lives of amputees, patients with spinal cord injuries and stroke victims, according to the report.
By the time it’s perfected, the cost of manufacturing the bionic arm is expected to be about $6 million, according to the report.

For more information on the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, click http://www.ric.org/ Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

Share This