Prosthetic vs. real arm

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