FDA Approves Star Wars Robotic Arm for Amputees

You knew the day was coming from the first time you saw Luke Skyuwalker with his new robotic arm at the end of Empire Strikes Back; a day when robotic prosthetics would be reality. Well, wait no longer ATS! Because DARPA has developed one that has been approved by the FDA.

The FDA said on Friday it allowed the sale of the DEKA Arm System after reviewing data, including a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs study in which 90 percent of people who used the device were able to perform complex tasks. These included using keys and locks, feeding themselves, using zippers and brushing and combing hair.

Technological advances are coming at a blinding pace these days don't you think: Solar Cells, 3d Printing, Robot Dogs, Drones, Self Driving Cars, cloaking technology, and on and on..........It's light someone turned on a light-switch and "Wham!" the future is here.

www.nbcnews.com...

most of the men i fought alongside were never worried about their hair,this piece looks alot like propaganda

Buy your upgrades make sure its credit and make sure its warfighter tested. I cant say right and wrong but it makes me think

I love tech like this. Awesome
It still looks a little cumbersome but in 5-10 years they should be lighter and perhaps permanent implants.

originally posted by: lostbook

Technological advances are coming at a blinding pace these days don't you think: Solar Cells, 3d Printing, Robot Dogs, Drones, Self Driving Cars, cloaking technology, and on and on..........It's light someone turned on a light-switch and "Wham!" the future is here.

Perhaps its just a product of the time when I was born, but it seems to me to be blindingly slow if anything. all the tech mentioned has been mucked around with for 25+ years and are now just barely coming out in pre-alpha crap versions. To me, I imagine some vampires that have an exceptional lifespan making sure to slow technology and innovation to a crawl to make sure they get every single cent worth before minor improvements.

Now yes, I can look at the whole picture and think in the last whatever, 40 years we have had mind boggling changes...but if you break it down...what have we truly accomplished. the computer is more fancy now, but still just a computer. wireless advances has been impressive, but hell, wireless signals have been toyed with for decades upon decades now...

I enjoy gadgets, but I am less than impressed about proper ground breaking innovation pace.

Still..good work I guess..maybe in another 30 years, they can upgrade and attach feelings and sensors to it..then milk that population.

Along those lines have you seen this?

Students Use 3-D Printer To Produce Prosthetic Arm For $200

A trio of biomedical engineering students at the Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) managed to build a 13-year-old girl a robotic prosthetic arm using a 3-D printer. Incredibly, the robotic arm cost a meager $200 to make; normally a prosthetic would set you back a minimum of $6,000.
Read more at www.iflscience.com...

Fitting children with prosthetics is difficult because as they grow, the prosthetics need to be replaced with larger devices to accommodate their body changes. Since most prosthetics are very expensive, this is unaffordable for many. “With the 3-D printer, a prosthetic can be made much less expensive. The possibilities of what can be done to improve prosthetics using this technology is very exciting,”
Read more at www.iflscience.com...