Human testing of the prosthesis of the arm, which is directly controlled by the brain, begins.

For the first time in the world, human testing of a modular prosthetic arm, which is controlled directly by the brain, begins. The joint project of the Pentagon and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) - a modular prosthetic arm - will be completely controlled by sensors implanted in the brain, and even create sensations of touch by transmitting electrical impulses back to the cortex.



Last month, APL announced that it had signed a $ 34.5 million contract with the United States Department of Defense Advanced Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which will allow testing of five living people in the next two years.

The third phase of testing - testing in humans - will be used to fine-tune the system, improve nerve control and optimize sensory feedback algorithms.

The modular limb prosthesis (MPL) is the result of many years of development of prototypes - it includes 22 degrees of freedom of movement, allows you to independently control all five fingers, and weighs as much as the natural human hand (about 3.6kg). Patients will control the MPL with the help of embedded microchips that will read electrical impulses from the cerebral cortex.

The developers plan to install the first system in a paralyzed patient. While amputees may use other substitutes for the time being, MPL will be the first prosthesis to help circumvent the problem of spinal cord injury. Although MPL is not the first control experience directly from the brain, MPL will offer the first direct wired neural control of bionic body parts.







Read more at Singularity.com

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UPD: Among other things, MPL has a 6-fold greater force-to-weight ratio than any existing prosthesis.

UPD2: The answer to the question about the power supply: They have power from the built-in batteries. Work is still underway to develop a peroxide-hydrogen pneumatic system, to replace electric motors (hydrogen peroxide reacts to an iridium catalyst). To "charge" it will be enough to replace the canister with iridium catalyst.