New advances in prosthetics enable amputee soldiers to use brain signals to move their artificial limbs.
The $17,000 hand, called the i-LIMB, offers five individually powered articulating fingers and allows for thumb rotation. Doctors attach electrodes on the surface of the skin that pick up signals from nerves. A computer chip in the hand reads the sensors and drives a tiny motor in each finger. It not only looks like a real hand, but it also allows for users to do things like tie their shoelaces, play golf and even fold laundry.
Thanks to such advances in prosthetics, amputees have been returning to active duty in unprecedented numbers. In the U.S. Army, 65 amputee soldiers have gone back to active duty; eight have been deployed back to the theater. Several British soldiers have been fitted for prosthetics and then headed back to the front line.
press release | Newsweek
~It's time for tv and the movies to quietly introduce characters who happen to use prosthetic devices while doing the normal, beloved things we've learned to expect from the attractive and articulate people who tell us our stories?
Too potentially fetishtistic to attempt? The shows would automatically be saddled with PG-13 ratings, regardless of their overall content? Scare the kids, require lengthy explanations, which most adult viewers would find too difficult or traumatic to try?
Posted by Stubbornson at August 27, 2007 04:43 PM