A biomedical engineering team at the University of Utah has helped to develop a prototype of a high-tech prosthetic arm with fingers that can move and feel via the user’s thought.
The team, led by University of Utah biomedical engineering associate professor Gregory Clark, PhD, has developed a way for the LUKE Arm (named after Luke Skywalker’s prosthesis in The Empire Strikes Back) to mimic the way a human hand feels objects by sending the appropriate signals to the brain. Their findings were published in the journal Science Robotics.
“We changed the way we are sending that information to the brain so that it matches the human body. And by matching the human body, we were able to see improved benefits,” Clark said. “We’re making more biologically realistic signals.”
From left: Jacob George, a coauthor of the study, and Clark with the LUKE Arm.
Photograph courtesy of Dan Hixson, University of Utah College of Engineering.
That means an individual wearing the prosthesis can sense the touch of something soft or hard, understand better how to pick it up, and perform delicate tasks that would otherwise be impossible with a standard prosthetic device with metal hooks or claws for hands, Clark said.
Keven Walgamott, one of seven test subjects at the University, was able to pluck grapes without crushing them, pick up an egg without cracking it, and hold his wife’s hand with a sensation in the fingers similar to that of an able-bodied person.
“One of the first things he wanted to do was put on his wedding ring. That’s hard to do with one hand,” Clark said.
The LUKE Arm has been in development for nearly 15 years and is made of mostly metal motors and parts with a clear silicon skin over the hand. It is powered by an external battery and wired to a computer. It was developed by DEKA Research and Development.
In addition to creating a prototype of the LUKE Arm with a sense of touch, the team is currently developing a version that is portable and does not need to be wired to a computer outside the body, giving the wearer more freedom.
Editor’s note: This story was adapted by materials provided by the University of Utah.
