BraiNy ArM

Bend your elbow. Easy, right? You just think it and it happens. But not if you have an artificial arm. That's because doctors couldn't connect false limbs to nerves that carry movement messages from the brain.

Until now. Researchers have finally developed a brain-controlled robotic arm. The first person to use it-a man who lost both his arms in an accident-has simply to think about moving the arm, and it moves.

To accomplish this, doctors located the shoulder nerves that had originally connected to muscles in the man's natural arm. Then, during surgery, they redirected those nerves to muscles in his chest. After he healed, they fitted the robotic arm to his shoulder and chest.

When the man imagines bending his elbow, his brain sends a signal down the nerve as it always did, but now it makes part of his chest muscle contract. Electrodes on the skin of his chest sense the contraction and signal a tiny computer in the robotic arm. The computer then operates a tiny motor (also in the arm) that bends the elbow.

Scientists hope this technology will soon make life a lot easier for people who have lost a limb.

-Mary Jo Hunst

Copyright Carus Publishing Company Apr 2007
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved