“Third Thumb” Augmentation Changes the Way we Think of Prosthetics
It’s that time of the month where we all come together and exchange gifts. Keeping this in mind, DARPA showed some holiday spirit when it provided Walter Reed National Military Medical Center the greatest gift the 21st century can offer: LUKE – the most revolutionary bionic arm available to date!
Photo Credit: DARPA
“The holiday season is bringing high-tech offerings for U.S. war veterans this year in the form of sophisticated bionic arms developed under the direction of DARPA. In a ceremony today at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda, Md., Justin Sanchez, Director of DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office, delivered the first two advanced “LUKE” arms from a new production line.”
– DARPA
Photo Credit: DARPA
Thanks to the tireless efforts of DARPA, military amputees will now be gifted with groundbreaking upper-limb bionic prostheses. The limbs were manufactured by Mobius Bionics LLC of Manchester, N.H., a company that was specifically created to market technology by DEKA Integrated Solutions Corp.
The bionic prosthetic system LUKE stands for “Life Under Kinetic Evolution,” though was also inspired by the fictional character Luke Skywalker from the highly popular sci-fi/fantasy film saga Star Wars. The modular, battery-powered limb is near size and weight of an actual adult arm. It’s extremely dexterous with strong grip force feedback using a simple, intuitive control system.
You can learn more about similar technology coming out of DARPA through their Revolutionizing Prosthetics program.
FUTURE IMPLICATIONS
Bionic limbs have been a mainstay element of most science fiction storytelling. Whether it was under a utopian or dystopian setting, the idea of people becoming cyborgs by replacing their biological limbs for more robotic ones was quite common. It was a collective dream that, someday, we may eventually do the exact same thing here in real life. That time has finally come and we’re only getting started. Eventually these bionic limbs will become much more advanced than fully functioning biological limbs. By that time, an increasing number of people will be opting for elective amputations in the hopes of becoming real life cyborgs. Oh, what a time to be alive!
About the author
B.J. Murphy is the Editor and Social Media Manager of Serious Wonder. He is a futurist, philosopher, activist, author and poet. B.J. is an Affiliate Scholar for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET) and an Ambassador for the robotics company Humai.
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