Historically prosthetics have not been robotic (makes sense considering the earliest examples of prosthestics are over 3000 years old), but the field has been revolutionized in recent years! 60 Minutes presents astounding breakthroughs in prosthetics limb technology allowing for feeling and increased control. CBS News
“That’s my fingers,” Prestwood told Pelley. “I am feeling my fingers that I don’t have anymore. I’m feeling them.”
Scott Imbrie, a volunteer for a project at the University of Chicago, had his movement and sense of touch limited by a spinal injury from a car accident. Now, the ports in his skull communicate his brain’s intention to a robot arm. The sensors in the robot hand then send the feeling of touch back into his brain.
Computer ports in Scott Imbrie’s skull are wired to the motor and sensory parts of his brain
But today’s technology may offer the greatest independence through no prosthetic at all.
Austin Beggin became quadriplegic after diving into a submerged sandbar while on vacation to celebrate his college graduation. Like Imbrie, he has ports in his skull that connect to his brain.
But unlike Imbrie, the signals for motor control go not to a robot arm, but to his own arm. Sensors inside his arm fire his muscles, bypassing his damaged spine. This allows Beggin to do something that he had not been able to do in years—shake his father’s hand.
“All I’ve ever wanted to do is just shake someone’s hand and just tell them, you know, ‘Hi.’ Just simple hi,” Beggin said. “But getting that opportunity to do it with my dad, it was, like, saying, ‘Thank you for the last eight years of sticking this out with me.'””
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