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  • Dean Kamen's Luke arm now has mind-control and 3D-spatial interfaces

    by 
    Ryan Block
    Ryan Block
    05.29.2008

    Inventor extraordinaire Dean Kamen spoke at D today about the latest developments in the Luke arm. Not that it wasn't already impressive enough, but Kamen's company, DEKA Research, has made even more amazing developments in the arm's interface, complementing the early mechanical controls with spatial and neural interfaces. The shot above was taken of a man with transected nerves, which were interfaced directly to the arm, enabling him to delicately utilize numerous degrees of motion within hours of installation. Also in development for the Luke arm is a spatial interface (which would intelligently give some control of movement back to the arm itself), as well as a non-invasive mind interface that utilizes infrared to read neural signals through the skull. Furthermore, to lend in balance and motion with heavier usage, a new body-mounting chassis was built, featuring embedded bladders that tense up (inflate). Fricking crazy stuff. Shots from Kamen's demo videos below.%Gallery-23996%