Military to fund prosthetics research

0 Comments | USA TODAY, October, 2005 | by Dave Moniz

WASHINGTON -- The Defense Department is embarking on a multimillion-dollar research program to revolutionize upper-body prosthetics after a surge in troops who have lost hands and arms in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The technology for artificial hands and arms hasn't improved much since World War II. During the next four years, the Pentagon will spend almost $35 million to develop improved artificial arms, aiming for one a Defense Department report says will "feel, look and perform" like a real arm guided by the central nervous system.

The commitment is the largest pool of funding for prosthetics in at least a decade, says Jan Walker, a spokeswoman for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which will award the contracts.

Improved body armor has...