Prosthetic Arms

By: Ryan McDonough

History of Prosthetic Arms

Before this mainly prosthetic hands were made out of iron•But in 1508 a knight had two hands replace his right arm and this was one of the first jointed prosthetics in history. Its used springs and leather straps•During the Civil War was when prosthetics started to take off in America because there were over 30,000 amputees.

History Continued

• In World War II the government started funding engineering programs at universities so that soldiers with amputations would have better technology to work with.

• Around the 1960’s the united states developed the first movable prosthetic arm

• Today developing arms that can read brain signals.

The Problem its Solving• Many amputation victims have a hard time going

about their daily lives.• Hard for them to complete the simplest of tasks• The prosthetic arm will help them complete these

simple tasks• With the prosthetic arms being better developed they

will be able to do tasks as if they weren't even missing their arm.

• Makes people feel as though they are capable of doing things even though they are missing an arm

• Patients can now do things that people with arms would be able to do.

Top of the Line Prosthetic Arms • Today engineers must first use a process called

targeted muscle reinnervation.• This process requires doctors to take nerves from

the spot where the arm was amputated and reattach it to nerves in the chest.

• Electrodes are then placed on the chest to make it possible for the person to move the arm with their brain signals

• The signals pass from the brain, into the chest and into the arm making it move in the direction the patient wants

Continued• These new prosthetic arms are able to preform ten different hand, wrist,

and elbow• There were tests preformed where people with prosthetic arms did the

same tests as people with real arms, the patients with fake arms were able to preform the tasks a tiny bit slower then people with real arms.

• Before this prosthetic arm people were very limited with what they could do with it.

• Also before this arm it was very difficult to find a way to attach the arm to the body while making it comfortable for the patient

• Now they have harness that attaches the arm to the person that goes along your chest around your body and attaches on your back.

• More finger like• By doing this the arm uses the rest of the body to move things instead of

just the stump of the arm making it able to lift a lot more weight

Videos

• http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/health/research/11arm.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&exprod=permalink&adxnnlx=1302373454-Tq6po7U0G/mBl3Fmq6rSJw

How Engineers Fit Into This• Biomedical

– need to know what part of the brain would be used to send those signal to the arm

– Where to place the electrodes on your body– How much strain it would put on your body

• Mechanical– Have to design how the arm moves – Figure out how much weight could be put onto the

machine/ motor• Electrical

– Need to set up all the wiring for the arms

Limitations

- Weight- Movement- Not easy to operate for everyone- Not enough funding

Future

• Prosthetic arms eventually having feeling• Making it easier for people to move with them• Make them out of a lighter material • Government should put more money into this

process• Videogames using prosthetic arms as

controllers

Sources• Singer, Emily. "A Prosthetic Arm That Acts Like a Real One - Technology

Review." Technology Review: The Authority on the Future of Technology. 2 Feb. 2007. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. <http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/18134/?a=f>.

• "History of Prosthetic Devices." Www.unc.edu. Web. 9 Apr. 2011. <http://www.unc.edu/~mbritt/Prosthetics%20History%20Webpage%20-%20Phys24.html>.

• Belluck, Pam. "In a New Procedure, Artificial Arm Listens to Brain." Www.nytimes.com. New York Times, 10 Feb. 2009. Web. 9 Apr. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/health/research/11arm.html?adxnnl=1&exprod=permalink&adxnnlx=1302373454-Tq6po7U0G/mBl3Fmq6rSJw>.

• Smith, Kevin. "Open Access for Hardware?" Duke University Libraries Blogs. 24 Oct. 2009. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. <http://blogs.library.duke.edu/scholcomm/2009/10/24/open-access-for-hardware/>.

• 2008, Sarah Adee  /  February. "Reengineering the Prosthetic-Arm Socket - IEEE Spectrum." IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News. Feb. 2008. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. <http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/reengineering-the-prostheticarm-socket>.