Prosthetics Make Me Happy

Esquire has an great feature about Bryan Anderson, an Iraq War vet who lost both legs and an arm to an IED. His struggles with his prosthetic limbs are both heart-wrenching and inspiring. He's not letting his lack of limbs hold him back, like when he visits a go-kart track during a trip to be fitted with upgraded prosthetics.

The girl at the cash register runs us through the basic requirements, which add up to one rule: If we hurt ourselves, we won't sue. "Do you all have close-toed shoes?" she asks. Anderson is wearing sneakers, but he says it anyway: "Do I need them?" "Everyone does," she says, not looking up. "Even if I don't have feet?"

Development of increasingly capable prosthetics continues, toward the goal of synthetic limbs that exceed the potential of our stock meat limbs. A recent ruling of the International Association of Athletics Federations to forbid paraplegic runner Oscar Pistorius from the 2008 Olympics due to unfair advantage granted by his "Cheetah" prosthetics was perhaps a more noteworthy landmark than it first appeared, denoting the beginning of an age when bolt-on parts make us more—not less—than human.

One of the most impressive projects in the labs now is DEKA's "Luke" arm, an eight-pound cybernetic arm that, while not a dextrous as a human arm, is nevertheless stunning. IEEE Spectrum has produced a short video of the Luke in action, including showing how it's worn and tested by a man who lost both arms 26 years ago to electrical burns. The smile on his face when he talks about the simple joy of being able to peel a banana brightened my day.

Discussion

Take a look at this

#1 posted by in silico , February 12, 2008 11:20 AM

Yes, we're starting to get really close to natural limbs with prosthetics. If we could just master the sense to "touch" and force control, we'd have it.

#2 posted by Patrick Dodds