More than 40 years ago, Colorado resident Les Baugh lost both of his arms from the shoulder down in an electrical accident. He could never have predicted that, four decades after the accident, he would be the first double amputee ever to test out twin mind-controlled cyborg arms.

The Modular Prosthetic Limbs have been in development at Johns Hopkins University for the past decade. They work with a Virtual Integration Environment, or VIE, which is kind of like a virtual reality version of the prosthetic limbs. When using either the VIE or the physical limbs, Baugh has only to think about moving his robot arms to make them do his bidding.

Before the arms could be fitted, though, Baugh had to undergo a painful targeted muscle reinnervation surgery. The surgery redirected the nerves that once controlled Baugh’s arms and hands, making it possible to control the new cyborg arms with his mind. Once he recovered from the surgery, Baugh was fitted with a custom socket that fits over his torso and shoulders.

The torso supports the weight of the prosthetic limbs and also makes the neurological connections between the brain and the newly rewired nerves. Once the socket was completed and Baugh was fitted with his robot arms, he was able to perform tasks like moving a cup from a counter-height shelf to a higher shelf. He also picked up a ball from the lower shelf and dropped it into a basket on the higher shelf.

Baugh managed to learn all of this with only 10 days of training, and the team was astonished at how quickly and easily he was able to start controlling both arms. He was performing complex motions on both arms at the same time – a feat which can probably be half attributed to the intuitive design of the VIE and the exceptionally advanced prosthetic limbs. But a large portion of the credit has to go to Mr. Baugh, who put on those arms and just started moving them around like they’d always been part of his body.

The post Amputee Tests First-Ever Mind Controlled Dual Robot Arms first appeared on Gajitz.

This happy-looking pup seems full of life and cheer now, but he has been through enough suffering for several lifetimes. Born in an abandoned cellar to a stray, Naki’o is incredibly lucky to be alive. His mother died in that cellar, and when little Naki’o and the rest of the litter were found, he had suffered severe frostbite that later caused the amputation of all four feet and part of his tail. For months the pup wobbled around painfully on his uneven stubs, but eventually his vet recognized the need for permanent replacement feet.

Without intervention, Naki’o’s legs would eventually have given out and left him immobile. A chance encounter led Naki’o’s foster parent to OrthoPet, a company that specializes in making prosthetic and assistive devices for animals. Although all of the dog’s limbs needed attention, his left hind leg was in the worst shape. The team of carers decided to work on making that leg less painful and more functional before tackling the rest of Naki’o’s problems.

Corrective surgeries had to be performed in order to make the dog’s leg stumps suitable for fitting into prosthetic devices. They had to be evened out to approximately the same size, and painful bone points had to be removed for Naki’o’s comfort. After the first prosthetic device was fitted and tested, OrthoPet went to work creating three more new feet for Naki’o.

According to the vets and the rest of Naki’o’s team, it was the dog’s enthusiasm that kept them going. Whenever a change was made to Naki’o’s prostheses, he gave immediate feedback by either using the limb more or trying to avoid using it. After all of his new limbs were in place, Naki’o was finally able to run and play like any other dog. In the end, this pup’s sad story turned into a success as well as a world first: Naki’o is now the first dog in the world to sport four prosthetic limbs.

The post Wonder Dog is First in the World to Have 4 Prosthetic Legs first appeared on Gajitz.

Most prosthetic hands can hold things and perhaps restore near-full functionality to the user’s limb – but most don’t restore the sense of feeling in any way. An international team of researchers has developed a prosthetic hand that can help the user feel again. The Lifehand 2 will allow amputees to regain a small amount of feeling after just a few weeks of getting used to the device.

Electrodes from the Lifehand 2 are connected to nerves in the amputee’s body, which allows the amputee to control the hand through muscle movements – even if those nerves haven’t been used in years. Dennis Sørensen was the first person to try out the new bionic hand, wearing it for a month.

During that short time, Sørensen learned to use the hand to differentiate between three shapes and to determine the hardness of three objects. His accuracy rates in these tests were 88 percent and 78.7, respectively. Being able to tell the difference between the hardness of objects allowed Sørensen to determine how much pressure he needed to exert to hold the items.

Although this first trial had to be kept short, the researchers are looking forward to future studies with even more subjects. Their hope is that the number of objects able to be “felt” by the wearers of the bionic hands will increase in future trials.

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The horrors of the war-torn regions of Sudan are unimaginable. In 2012, Daniel Omar lost both of his arms from a bomb dropped by his own country. First reported by Time magazine, his plight got the attention of the CEO of Not Impossible Labs, who want to use their 3D printing technology to give Daniel new hope.

In South Sudan, 50,000 amputees, including Daniel, are receiving 3D-printed extremities. It sounds like a big order for a guy, a laptop and a 3D printer – which is why CEO Mick Ebeling set up a lab at a nearby hospital dedicated to building affordable 3D-printed prosthesis. Locals are being trained to help build the prosthesis, and the cost for each one is an incredibly low $100.

Of course a $100 prosthetic isn’t going to be the same as a $5000 one. The 3D printed Ebeling prosthetic can’t lift as much, and the hands, with limited mobility, require special attachments to eat with utensils. But the independence is insurmountable. They allowed Daniel the pleasure of feeding himself for the first time in two years.

The post Team Develops 3D Printing Lab to Make $100 Prosthetics first appeared on Gajitz.

Prosthetic limbs are prohibitively expensive for anyone, but when it comes to young kids they are especially difficult to afford. Most insurance companies won’t pay for them because kids grow out of prostheses so quickly, and it isn’t often you find a family who can shell out another $10k every year or so. Alabama engineering firm Zero Point Frontiers is shattering the typical prostheses business model by creating 3D printed prosthetic limbs for a tiny fraction of the cost.

The hand from Zero Point Frontiers costs a shockingly small $5, meaning that it is cheap enough to mend or replace when necessary. A new one can be made in a single day, as opposed to the weeks or months it can take to produce and calibrate a new conventional prosthetic device. Made of only plastic, screws, and bungee cords, the device is simple enough to fix. Zero Point Frontiers plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign that can take their wonderful design from concept to reality.

The post 5 Dollar 3D Printed Prosthesis Makes New Limbs Affordable first appeared on Gajitz.