If you’re like most, your heart broke when Darth Vader cut off Luke Skywalkers arm during the ‘Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back’. However, you weren’t heartbroken for long because Luke had a brand new arm and hand within a fortnight. That’s all fun and games because it’s science fiction, but real-life amputees are about to get a boost from ‘Star Wars’.
According to reports, after eight years of research and testing, the FDA has approved the DEKA Arm created by the inventors of the Segway. The prosthetic innovation apparently is controlled by signals from the brain. Unlike most prosthesis these days, the DEKA Arm can do such tasks like zipping up a coat, unlocking a door and picking up an egg without breaking it.
The research was funded by DARPA, the research branch of the Pentagon and headed by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway vehicle. Kamen named the arm Luke, after Luke Skywalker, but it is Kamen who might be the hero. DEKA could represent groundbreaking technology in helping amputees return to as close as normalcy as they can get at the moment. The battery powered arm is about the size and weight of a typical human arm. A computer device inside can tell the type of movement that the body wants to make. Tests have already been completed and the results are astounding (seen in the video below). DEKA could be fitted for many, including veterans shortly!
Image via DARPA/YouTube
