U.S. government gives cancer patient $120-million robotic arm to use for a year

By Jean-Jacques DeLisle, contributing writer

Image source: Pixabay.

Until recently, the concept of a thought-controlled robotic limb was rooted solely in the domain of science fiction. This long-sought-after dream has finally been brought to life thanks to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Labs, which, for the first time in history, let a mind-controlled robotic arm leave their lab to be used by a man in his daily life.

Johnny Matheny lost his arm to cancer in 2005, and in December, he was selected to test out a new prosthetic arm over the next year. According to news website Quartz, the new technology is allowing him to control the arm with only his thoughts, in the same way that his brain would traditionally control any limb. This groundbreaking advancement is part of a program known as Revolution Prosthetics, which has been developed by the Johns Hopkins Physics Lab and funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The Revolutionizing Prosthetics program aims to allow people to interface with prosthetics in a much more natural way than previous automated prosthetics.

In the past, most prosthetics have been programmed to respond to muscle cues from undamaged areas of the body, such as the muscles in the upper arm or pectoral being flexed to send a signal to let a robotic hand know how to move. Although this signal-esque method has proven somewhat effective, it’s far from natural, and users are forced to completely re-learn how to use their limbs. This results in a rather lengthy learning curve, which can leave many discouraged.

The technology being developed and tested at Johns Hopkins is very different, while still borrowing a few tricks from its predecessors. This revolutionary prosthetic design still uses sensors to intercept nerve activity and measure electric signals in the muscles, but for the first time, the sensors have the ability to intercept signals that are intended for the missing limbs rather than for some unrelated part of the body. The end result is an interface that is far more intuitive and easy to learn. Ultimately, they have created prosthetics that can be a “grab and go,” with little or no learning curve. The ease of use will allow veterans who have suffered the loss of limbs in combat or people who lost limbs due to medical conditions to very quickly recover and adapt to their conditions with very minimal changes to their everyday life.

To see the robotic arm in action, check out this video by Quartz on YouTube.

The bionic arm is not without its limitations, however. As much as we would like it to be like something from the “Terminator” films, no one is going to be crushing any bricks to dust with fancy robot arms just yet. The new technology is still in its infancy, and over the next year, it’s going to be tested for its technical capacity and how well it’s controlled by impulses from the brain. Because this is still technically a test run, Matheny is slightly limited to what he is able to do with it. For example, driving is not allowed for fear of a stray thought that could send the wrong signal to the arm and make him swerve all over the road, potentially endangering himself or others. The arm is not water-resistant and will have to be kept dry. Despite its few limitations, this is by far the most advanced prosthetic ever to be used in the daily life of an individual and it will be exciting to see how this technology evolves.