In 2005, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sought out the greatest inventor in the country. Too many soldiers were coming home from Iraq with missing limbs, and DARPA was determined to give them the best treatment and technology available. They approached prolific inventor, Dean Kamen, and gave him the challenge of building a lightweight prosthetic arm within 2 years that would have enough dexterity to allow the wearer to pick up and a grape without damaging it. Kamen was initially deterred by the ambitious timetable, but eventually decided it had to be done. At his DEKA Research labs, Kamen and his team developed what they called the “Luke Arm” within 18 months. The device is named after Luke Skywalker who, after losing a duel with Darth Vader in “The Empire Strikes Back”, was given a prosthetic arm that appeared so tightly integrated with his real body that he could trivially operate his new hand just as he did before.
Tight integration means there must be many ways for the user to easily send commands to the prosthesis so that it becomes a natural extension of their body. The Luke Arm can be controlled by nerves, muscles, and foot pedals. A new user can comfortably control the artificial limb after just 10 hours of practice. The arm, loaded with processors, also has haptic feedback. Pressure sensors on the fingers send signals back in the form of vibrations, so the wearer can tell how hard they are grasping an object (a requirement for passing DARPA’s “grape test”). So far, DARPA has invested over $70m in the venture. The arm will be commercialized once the FDA conducts clinical trials and grants approval.
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