Immaculate prosthetic limb concept makes combines fun again
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Feb 10th 2009 6:33AM
posted Feb 10th 2009 6:33AM
We never thought it would it come to this, but damn if that image above doesn't make the idea of having a prosthetic limb attractive. A pang first felt at the sight of Oscar Pistorius' Cheetah prosthetics is now fully engorged with visions of reckless play around farm equipment. The concept "immaculate" from Hans Alexander Huseklepp explores the idea of turning a handicap into a high-performance, cybernetic fashion statement. The neurological prosthetic is clad in technology-packed corian plates with dome-joints that offer a larger degree of freedom than that motherly-issued arm of yours. So enough with the flesh-colored plastics already, this is the biomechatronic future of the proud naturoid we'd like to see. Hell, we have to do something now that tattoos and piercings have gone mainstream.
Sign me up please as long as that chick comes with the hand....
A prostetic arm isn't worth having unless it comes with a minigun or a flame thrower.
slap on a robo-gina and shes all mine
i hope you'll enjoy your prostetic handjob
That is a damn sexy dress...
You got it buddy.
I'd put my immaculate limb in her for some combined fun
frankly, the limb was the last thing i noticed
kinda hot....and kinda creepy.
Exactly my kind of girl
i have to puke
Agreed.
Although it looks pretty cool, the though of holding hands or a female touching me with a plastic or metallic hand seems way too unnerving at this point.
"Although it looks pretty cool, the though of holding hands or a female touching me with a plastic or metallic hand seems way too unnerving at this point."
So you're swearing off all women with prosthetics? There goes your last chance for a date.
@Bobby and Bryan:
The more I read your comments, the more your shallowness just shines. Nice.
Bring it on. Just wait until these things are as powerful as the Fullmetal Alchemist Automails :)
I'm hoping more for the future like Ghost in the Shell.
Hell, I'd atleast settle for Full Metal Panic...
Who had mechanical limbs in Full Metal Panic? Those were all big ass mobile suits. Or "Arm Slave" in that series I think.
Would the article have the same affect if the pictured prosthetic was attached to this lady? http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k118/FakeFrowns1985/ugly.jpg
I slept with her last week .. u know her ?
Hey Dude! What you doing with pictures of my mum?
Exactly my kind of girl
Is that Ron Perlman?!
Arm no... prosthetic head & face maybee....
...I think that's pretty cool actually.
but, can i move the damn limb?. if not then crap!.
Nice aesthetics, but how exactly is it meant to actuate? Human limbs, and all existing artificial replacements, work by leverage of some contracting or extending element (muscle, pneumatics, artificial muscle) around the joint. While I'm sure that you could come up with some sort of actuator that looks like the rendering, I dare say it would be much harder for the brain to "re-learn".
How does it attach to the actual body?
Glue?
Somehow, the massive set of leather straps wrapping around the body probably aren't that attractive...except to the S&M group, of course.
The brain is surprisingly versatile, you can connect a camera to electrodes on a person's tongue, and the brain can adapt to 'see' using the electrodes
http://discovermagazine.com/2003/jun/feattongue
I have no doubt that the brain could fairly easily adapt to drive a wide range of acutators in the arm. As for attaching it to the body, I'd imagine a socket could be implanted on the end of the arm for the machinary to connect to
They have been working neurological prosthetic limbs for years now. It even says something about neurological actuation in the blog.
"Nice aesthetics" is all it's for. It's a design concept, on a design blog.
There will be some compromises made (if this particular design goes anywhere) after the engineers take the impossibility of meeting all design parameters and having it look like that and pound it into the designers' thick skulls. (Designers may be modeled, with high accuracy, as Neanderthals of extreme artistic ability.)
Oh, and as an engineer, I wouldn't find "life-like" (i.e., uncanny valley) appearance, or even genuine life-like appearance, desirable characteristics. Nor would I find looking like this sleek monstrosity a desirable characteristic. I'd focus chiefly on performance and cost (to whatever extent I'm paying...), and inasmuch as looks mattered at all, I'd prefer more mechanical and less bio-robo-insect appearance. But, if I did get that one, it would _really_ need some nice Aperture tech instead of/in addition to that gripper; the style is just crying for it.
Engadget, you owe me one new Macbook keyboard. "limb concept makes combines fun again"
I like the idea in general. I mean, if people want to get their prosthetics looking close to the real thing that's great, but I'm sure there will be those that would like their prosthetics to stand out and maybe even make a fashion statement and I say, why not.
Did she lose her arm in a tragic Walk-Off accident? Those are dangerous...
Hey, I got a wacky idea. Whadda say we handle this on the runway....Han Solo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0z28P4UL7Y
It looks shopped...
To Andir3.0
"It looks shopped..."
duh...
I can understand writing an article about a prosthetic that has a little bit of fashion to it but it is just plain insensitive to compare this to tattoos and piercings. I don't think many amputees would have willingly severed their arm so they could wear one of these.
I think you'd be surprised.
I'd gladly go for a fully robotic body if it came anywhere near half what's depicted in Ghost in the Shell right now. Then again I'm missing large portions of bone in my lower back, 4 disks, tons of bone spurs from top to bottom of my spine and chronic pain through out my entirre body. So parts replacement sounds nice to me. Pain meds can only do so much.
Look at the horrible meat sack that gorgeous arm is attached to!
"Underneath all this genius, I'm just a human .. you know, but I'm working on that!"
Ricker, you are a fucking idiot. To even suggest that one can lose a limb and it be cool, that's cold and stupid. As one whose grandfather lost a leg in a combine accident, and was so poor he had to make his own prosthesis (not kidding), I find your thoughts on the matter a load of it.
I know you're kidding, but young "sophisticates" like you really make me ill with how out of touch with reality you really are.
Oh, and another thing - it's not "neurological." That would be nerves. Idiot.
Harry D, I'm not poking for at those who wear prosthetics. I am, however, giving a poke to an industry that manufactures prosthetic limbs to mimic the look of their fleshy counterparts as if those who wear the substitute limbs should be ashamed of them. I say flaunt it, be proud, add some design and draw attention to it -- the technology inside these modern limbs is amazing.
That leads to making fun of those nonconforming conformists that tattoo and pierce the hell out themselves to prove how much of an individual they are. I'll bet that within the next 50 years (likely sooner), we'll see trendy prosthetics adopted by choice -- don't you read SciFi?
Thomas
@ Ricker:
I appreciate the explanation, but I seriously think you need to learn to self-edit. The wording of the article really does not lead one to think "tongue-in-cheek."
Even so, there are some things that are simply off-limits, and this is one of them. You'd never call a black a n*gg*r, just as you'd never say anything made the Holocaust look cool, but you sure as hell say what you said. Self-reflection is in order to discover what you find within bounds and without, and why.
This generation has boundary issues. You need to learn the rules of respect much better than you have. The device itself is interesting, but your article describing it is offensive.
Sorry Harry, but you're not the type I wish to engage in further online discussion. You're too busy with your keyboard courage to even understand (or Google) the neurological base of modern prosthetics. Catch ya on the next post.
Thomas
Wow. That might be the fastest I've seen Godwin's Law fulfilled in the Engadget comments. Nice work, Harry!
I also like your willingness to cast it all out there and call Ricker all sorts of names because you didn't get the joke. Which, granted, may be because you didn't see Johnny Mnemonic, for which I can't fault you. Still, maybe you should ask why something is supposed to be funny before you assume that the author is an insensitive tool who thinks amputation is funny.
You're not an idiot, but you do need to be aware that you (obviously) have an over-sensitivity here. We all want amputees to have the most capable prosthetic limbs possible. And the technology that is making that happen is very, very cool stuff. There is nothing wrong with saying that. Nor is it insensitive to say that a prosthetic is so next-generation that you kinda want one. It doesn't mean you really do (just like I kinda want that Swedish "personal jet" thing -- I don't REALLY, but I acknowledge that it is undeniably cool), and it certainly doesn't detract from the tragedy that produced someone else's need for one. It should, in fact, give some measure of hope and comfort to an amputee that they can be confident that their "new limb" won't freak people out, but will be something that they can wear with confidence in our techy society.
On the downside, said amputee will likely get tired of nerds peppering them with questions about how it works and whether it can crush steel.
@ricker: whatever you think of harry and his reaction to your story, he does have a valid point. you crossed a line, and you got called on it. if you want to avoid this kind of confrontation, the easiest way would be to think a bit harder next time. i wouldn't take solace in your reader approval, either: right and wrong aren't decided by majority vote, and certainly not when it's bullying those you've offended.
m, there's nothing justifying the being 'called out'. Only those without a sense of humor or intellect could realize that this website is hardly ever serious about anything. That includes prosthetics. Take your faux outrage to faux news.
wait since when did thomas sign his comments?
No Harry, you are the idiot. I've known people injured in accidents like this too. I've had a friend and a father of a friend lose a limb this way. I thought the title was hilarious, and for that, props to you Ricker.
This is the internet, learn to take a joke. People make jokes all the time about wars, cancer, sicknesses, and everything else. Get over yourself and learn to take a joke.
@ Roadrunner :
Ok, then suggest this hilarity to the people you know who lost limbs in farming accidents - that they had fun doing so.
Logically, then, Ricker's idea makes IEDs in Iraq cool, too, right? Because soldiers lost limbs? I dare you to go to your local VA hospital and suggest this. Let's see if you make it out the door. Oh, but I forgot - you only dwell on the internet, not real life.
You guys are breathtakingly, irresponsibly cruel.
@ HarryD
You have personal emotional issues that are bound up with the topic, might be worth separating them. Personally I think you are trolling. I have a friend who is a near quad, he thinks this stuff is great, now I am not saying he got hit by a car so that 30 years later he could borg up but it's going to way cool when he can.
I have never had any surgery or even had a stay in a hospital. I have no piercing. I would though replace one of my eyes with a enhanced model. I'd also go an improved stomach or lungs, they are terribly inefficient. I've never much wanted to chop my arms off to have them replaced, but I would have an extra set of arms, now that would be useful, or a surgically created pocket that I can stash stuff in, awesome.
People are going to be lining up to chop their arms off when the tech gets there. Some jobs will require it. Okay, I'd get a few finger chopped and replaced with more interesting and useful ones. Even the fingertip pen, how chic
I eagerly await the day when science and technology develop a method of pulling that gigantic stick out of Harry's ass.
In short: Lighten up, Francis.
Nobody cares about your gramps except you. Welcome to Earth, where your shortcomings are someone else's punch-line. Get used to it.
I-Robot stunt doubles away!
all is full of love!
that was very 1st thought also.
I'd lose parts of my body to get them back better...
shopped.
but sexy.
Im I gay cause I like the Queen music in Highlander 1??
That thing just looks a bit too intense for in bed, I'm sorry.
And aesthetically it looks like a limb from an insect, and I'm not into insects either to be quite honest.
I suppose I can see where someone who has had to deal with, or knows someone who had to deal with, the clunky prosthetics of the past might see the suggestion that perfectly healthy people might desire the prosthetics of the future offensive.
It doesn't make it any less of a reality, though. Scientists, often inspired by the need to make life better for war veterans, have been making breakthroughs both in developing prosthetic limbs that can be control by thought, as well as limbs that can transmit degrees of sensation back to the brain.
When you have prosthetics that are as easy to use as your own limbs, have a degree of sensation close to your own limbs, but are stronger, less prone to damage and wear, and easier to repair than your own limbs, there are going to be people who see that as an upgrade.
Frankly, I'm one of them.
While I am not quite sure whether having a limb replaced with plastic and servos should ever be considered "fun", I am all for developing better, more effective prosthetics and it can't hurt one bit if they look great too. Hiding the wires away in a superbly aesthetic shell such as this would surely be a major first step before, if ever, science can come up with something in the league of Luke Skywalker's hand. Amputated athletes get very reduced and streamlined prosthetics already, designed for power and agility, which have none of the awkward clumsiness of trying to hide away the loss with a fully imitated leg or arm. I hope I will never in my life have to face it, but in case I should ever lose an arm, I would very well prefer to have something that shows off what it is straight away, rather than some rubber skin that people shudder at when they notice at second glance. I'm also sure one could include a boatload of nifty features beyond the "mere" regular functions.
I can already foresee a new porn fetish category bionic women
Too bad they didn't have this for Felix Gaeta. He might not have gone all mutiny on us.
Wonder what that handjob would be like.
There, I said it. You're all welcome.
I doubt she would get any job working with her hands silly goose.
wow. hot. XD
most comments are about how hot the woman is!
Perfect product for iEye, Clak and Paul Chapel.
Now their right hands won't be hurting every night.
I would prefer her without the mechanics. don't want anything getting caught anywhere...
That pic is freakin' me out
Not a bad idea at all really.....
Does it come with kung fu grip?
I love the detail in the second pic, showing the possibility for integrated functions.
Clock, circle with dot..., Heart rate, battery, wireless? Ha, how much easier wearable computing would be with this, coupled with a nice ocular implant/lenses.
I wonder if it charges with usb, or if it's rather fuel-cell or steorn orbo based.
Funny things aside, I love the detail of the soft felt hand, and can imagine cool alternative materials you could swap. A future full fingered version, maybe even more than 5 would be awesome too.
LOL Orbo!
there are some sort of gel-batteries in her breasts i think
rofl.. Orbo!
...
Reminds me of this girl who worked downtown by me.
She was freakin' gorgeous but had one of her arms amputated at the elbow.
And she never wore a prosthetic.
Everybody stared at her. Half because she was beautiful and the other half because she was missing a stick.
Wow, that soooo reminds me of Eightman After. It's about time prosthetics looked cool!
that is sick
Everyone here needs to see this movie: The Machine Girl
I bet this girl gives AMAZING hand jobs!
How is this (the sub topic about bionic limbs becoming a "fad") any different than plastic surgery? Initially it was used primarily for people who had major dis formations due to fire or genetic problems. Now people go and get a new nose for the hell of it. Yes it would be cool to have an arm that could bowl a perfect 300 game, lift a car, open vacuum sealed packaging.
Is it bad that I didn't see the prosthetic arm upon first looking at the picture?
Very Portal-esque. The question of how it attaches still lingers...
till shes giving you a handjob and she squeezes to hard and your pecker falls right off onto the floor,
Ahh, it's the Combine!
*blasts with AR2 pulse rifle fire*
Now, a portal gun hand replacement would be the way to go.
Is it just me or does everyone else laugh at these dumb shits arguing with eachother in the comment section?
"@ HarryD
You have personal emotional issues that are bound up with the topic, might be worth separating them."
I fuckin lol'd
As my Internet trip counter rolls over to its sixth digit, I am becoming increasingly aware that blog comments exist solely and specifically to entertain the people who aren't commenting. Which is why I don't bother doing so much any more.
Super cool and super bold I.D. But super idiotic marketing image.
On phone*
Operator: Hello yes what can we do for you today sir?
Um yes Bio egg? I'd like to have my love muscle replaced with the turbo-stroke 5000. Does it come with the stealth orgasm work-pant wetness control & Is the mail in rebate still available for it?
Operator: I'm terribly sorry sir that rebate is no longer available however we will give you a 10% discount if you willing to let go of one your other limbs and replace it with our shameful flesh look-a-like limbs we have in stock.
Do those buttons control her ipod? She could really come in handy if you lost your garage door opener...
Stop dreaming of electric hand jobs. You could never be with this woman, she has a bionic arm with vibrate mode - she will never leave the house again...
For those wondering how this limb attaches, there have been major jumps forward in bone-graft prosthetics. Basically we can now fuse a socket to the bone at the end of an amputated limb, and literally screw prosthetics into the stump. It is much more comfortable for wearers, doing away with awkward straps and chafe on the stump region.
Subjects have also developed tactile sensation of sorts; any contact with the prosthetic transmitted minute vibrations directly into the wearer's bone, and with practise their brain adapted and learned to recognise contact in different regions based on the vibrations sensed. Their brain eventually adapted to the point where the subject described the sensations as coming from the prosthetic limb itself as if they had a living limb, although to a limited degree. Interesting how the brain can adapt and interpret inputs.
When bionic upgrades are commercially available, sign me right up. I'll take a second pair of arms, and a pair of bionic eyes with the ability to take outside input. Just imagine something like this with a virtual HUD instead of a projected one:
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/02/ted-digital-six.html?
it scares me when I see things like this because I seriously consider the advantages of replacing my current limbs, and maybe even adding a few extra.