Amputee controls robotic hand with the power of his thoughts

Using thought-controlled prosthetic arms, Christian Kandlbauer is able to drive a modified car, and Pierpaolo Petruzziello, who lost his left hand and forearm in a car accident, and was thereafter implanted with electrodes into the arm, can control a robotic hand by his thoughts alone.

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Being part of a LifeHand experiment carried out by a group of European scientists, Pierpaolo’s left hand was implanted with electrodes last year, while the prosthetic hand wasn’t actually implanted but only connected to the electrodes. Still, in a successful completion of the experiment, Pierpaolo was able to feel sensation and control the artificial limb by the power of his thoughts.

Under the $3 million project funded by the European Union, which hopes to connect the prosthesis to the system used by the brain to send and receive signals, Pierpaolo mastered the art of "wiggling the robotic fingers independently, making a fist, grabbing objects and making other movements," in a month-long period when he had the electrodes connected to the artificial hand.

Via: CBC News