Hope for Bionic Arm

The article I found was about a Dr. Todd Kuiken and his research in producing a bionic arm for amputees which simultaneously uses the elbow AND the hand; whereas, the arms made to this day use elbows and hands one at a time and can get confusing.

The idea for Dr. Kuiken's bionic arm is using the nerves. The nerves from the arm are transfered into the chest. Once the brain says that it wants the arm to move, a small contraction will send an electrical signal picked up by a tiny antennae that would be implanted on the chest muscle. That will be sent to the bionic arm making it contract.

The downfall to the bionic arm is how long it takes to connect with it. The surgery only takes a couple of hours, the a few months for the first little twitches of the arm and another six months until the nerves get used to having the arm.

The bionic arm is still being worked on with retaining new arm movements. Dr. Kuiken worked on the sensations part of the arm, letting the people using it know how hard the hand is squeezing and more.