At Expand NY in November, DARPA Director Arati Prabhakar talked about the erm, friendlier projects the agency is funding, including a mind-controlled robotic arm tested by Pittsburgh native Jan Scheuermann. Her test run has recently ended, but the University of Pittsburgh researchers in charge of project have published a paper detailing how much the limb has improved over the past two years. Before they took off Jan’s implants, she could already move not just arm itself, but also its wrist and fingers — she reportedly even beat her brother at a rock-paper-and-scissors game. “Overall, our results indicate that highly coordinated, natural movement can be restored to people whose arms and hands are paralyzed,” said Pitt School of Medicine professor Andrew Schwartz, Ph.D.
via Engadget
