The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) last year started the Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 program, with a goal of developing a mechanical arm that closely mimics the movement and sensory perception of a biological arm by 2009.
On Thursday, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., announced that it, through collaboration with others, has developed a breakthrough prosthetic arm. In addition to offering fuller functionality and feeling, the Proto 1 can be incorporated with lifelike materials to mimic the skin and hair of a patient's original limb. Photographs of the patient's original limb are taken to develop an exact match.
Text by Candace Lombardi, staff writer, CNET News.com
Photo by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory