Real-life cybernetics...

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Sutekhian

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About 12 years ago I got into a nasty car crash, tore apart the nerves that control one arm, they're in the "Brachial Plexus". Docs did what they could to sew them back up but that sort of injury never really heals properly, so now I'm left with a semi-useless arm that won't get any better as time goes on.

A friend linked me yesterday to an article that piqued my interest and reminded me of an older article about DARPA's research:

An Austrian man has voluntarily had his hand amputated so he can be fitted with a bionic limb.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13273348
Brachial Plexus Lesion? That's exactly what I have, think I need to email this prof ;)

DARPA's Mind-Controlled Prosthetic Arm Could Be on the Market in Four Years
http://www.fastcompany.com/1725799/...etic-arm-could-be-on-the-market-in-four-years
Now, strap one of these babies on and lets go! :D

So yeah, how cool would that be? Chop off the old useless meaty one and replace it with a gorgeous, functional, metal one. Would make the spartan cybernetic arm cosplay a heck of a lot easier too!

Lemme know what you guys think!
 
great find! i knew that they made advanvements in prosthetics but i didn't know they were this far.

It's amazing how far they have come :) I keep my eye out cause one day I'm hoping they'll be able to fix me properly. Not sure exactly on the current medical ethics, iirc last time I poked a doc they were shakey on it, I guess that's starting to change at last
 
About 12 years ago I got into a nasty car crash, tore apart the nerves that control one arm, they're in the "Brachial Plexus". Docs did what they could to sew them back up but that sort of injury never really heals properly, so now I'm left with a semi-useless arm that won't get any better as time goes on.
I'm in the exact same boat. Left Brachial Plexus Palsy. Birth injury ripped my BP RIGHT up. My left arm's a full foot shorter than the right, out of atrophy.

And it's odd, the last few days, I've been contemplating prostheses in the future, to replace my truly useless arm. (Of course, a cloned arm is better :p) Then this thread comes up.

I say, give it a few years. Technology's there, just needs to mature a bit.
 
I'm in the exact same boat. Left Brachial Plexus Palsy. Birth injury ripped my BP RIGHT up. My left arm's a full foot shorter than the right, out of atrophy.

And it's odd, the last few days, I've been contemplating prostheses in the future, to replace my truly useless arm. (Of course, a cloned arm is better :p) Then this thread comes up.

I say, give it a few years. Technology's there, just needs to mature a bit.

The specialist I saw in London did say it often happens to kids when they're being born as well, remembering the pain I went through with them trying to sew it up I've got some serious kudos to give to people born with it like you man! He told me in the UK there's only about 500 or so people actually have that sort of injury, about half are babies and the rest are mainly bikers like I was :)

If you don't mind me asking, how much function did you actually get back as you grew up? I'd been told kids are pretty resilient and tend to get a lot back as they're systems are still growing and tend to mostly regrow the damaged / lost sections, you found that true at all?

Gotta say in your pics it's hard to spot your arm being shorter or atrophied, the armour you've got really works to make em both look good :D Mines just thinner as it was obv full grown when it happened and I've just lost muscle-mass from lack of use. I've emailed the surgeon dude myself so if he comes back to me I'll pop you a PM and let you know yeah?
 
this is cool but t-cell research is raging right now. that could be quite the possibility in the next 20 years or so. when it does ill be the first in line for a new pancreas

My understanding of T-cells is that they're part of the auto-immune system principally created by the Thymus, have they gone haywire and messed up your pancreas? :-( For me I don't think any amount of research into those will repair the nerve damage so I'm going down the new arm route personally ;)
 
The specialist I saw in London did say it often happens to kids when they're being born as well, remembering the pain I went through with them trying to sew it up I've got some serious kudos to give to people born with it like you man! He told me in the UK there's only about 500 or so people actually have that sort of injury, about half are babies and the rest are mainly bikers like I was :)

If you don't mind me asking, how much function did you actually get back as you grew up? I'd been told kids are pretty resilient and tend to get a lot back as they're systems are still growing and tend to mostly regrow the damaged / lost sections, you found that true at all?

Gotta say in your pics it's hard to spot your arm being shorter or atrophied, the armour you've got really works to make em both look good :D Mines just thinner as it was obv full grown when it happened and I've just lost muscle-mass from lack of use. I've emailed the surgeon dude myself so if he comes back to me I'll pop you a PM and let you know yeah?
It's hard to tell because of how I hold myself. In actuality, it's shorter, thinner, doesn't straighten, the shoulder hangs down, and I actually have scoliosis from it. But given your whole life, you develop your mannerisms around it.

Honestly, if my parents had adhered to the physical therapy regiment that the doctors suggested when I was between birth and 4, I'd probably have most of my mobility, but they didn't, and 4 corrective surgeries later (all of them, pretty insane in concept), I have maybe a fifth, at best, the mobility of my right arm.

And, lately, I've been wondering if I'm genetically left handed. My mother is, and so are my paternal grandfather and his twin brother, and I don't have much natural dexterity with my right hand. That would just suck, wouldn't it? :p
this is cool but t-cell research is raging right now. that could be quite the possibility in the next 20 years or so. when it does ill be the first in line for a new pancreas
Yes, Stem Cells. Do want. New arm for me, new pancreas for you, new auditory nerve for my dad.

Sutekhian, a lot of diabetes is caused by autoimmune diseases destroying the pancreas. I know it's what destroyed my uncle's. That unlucky sap got Type-2 at age 22.
 
It's hard to tell because of how I hold myself. In actuality, it's shorter, thinner, doesn't straighten, the shoulder hangs down, and I actually have scoliosis from it. But given your whole life, you develop your mannerisms around it.

Honestly, if my parents had adhered to the physical therapy regiment that the doctors suggested when I was between birth and 4, I'd probably have most of my mobility, but they didn't, and 4 corrective surgeries later (all of them, pretty insane in concept), I have maybe a fifth, at best, the mobility of my right arm.

And, lately, I've been wondering if I'm genetically left handed. My mother is, and so are my paternal grandfather and his twin brother, and I don't have much natural dexterity with my right hand. That would just suck, wouldn't it? :p
Mines pretty similar to yours, it's a fair bit thinner, doesn't straighten fully but it's the same length as the other. I find a lot of people don't notice either, guy I worked with took 6 months to turn round and go "Hang on... is there something odd about that arm?" where to me it's really obvious so like you say it must just be how people hold themselves :D

Would totally suck if you turned out to be genetically left-handed yeah! I think I must be fairly ambidextrous as I was right-handed before the accident and adapted really quickly to using my left hand instead. If I can make pep stuff that leaves my mates going O_O then I can't be that bad eh? I'd just love to see what I could do with both!


Yes, Stem Cells. Do want. New arm for me, new pancreas for you, new auditory nerve for my dad.

Sutekhian, a lot of diabetes is caused by autoimmune diseases destroying the pancreas. I know it's what destroyed my uncle's. That unlucky sap got Type-2 at age 22.

Stem cells makes more sense XD When he said T-Cells I took it a bit literally I guess ;) tbh I'm happy to take the robotic right-now option, after all if stem cells turn out to be able to regrow entire parts can always grow a fresh arm later when they're at that stage eh?

Aye my lil bro has got type 1 unfortunately, he really hates the injections and I can't say I blame him!
 
Yeah, I'd hate to be diabetic...

And, I've had friends I've known for years, and they don't notice until I show off my epic scar from the last surgery. (I actually convinced one guy that scar was from a knife fight in Tijuana, Mexico xD) Oi, Brachial Plexus.
 
I couldn't move my left arm at all when I was little but a couple of years latter I was able to and still can to this day. But my back has been giving me trouble lattely. Only me and my grand father have this problem, he had several disks fuzzed together.

in could be residual from being little as I have no actual spainal problem other than a lsight curve to the right. Though my doctor said it could worsen latter.

My feet are a different story as I have had a lot of tendon damage near the heels and the tendon that runs the entire length of the foot.

it's interesting how medical science has progressed over the years.
 
I guess this is not related but advancement in exo-suits have helped those with limited to no mobility in their legs to walk again.
I guess this does coincide with cybernetics since they are talking of using our nervous system to tell these things how to move. I am a fan of exo-skeleton suits or powered armor thanks to reading Starship Troopers.
Okay, I am jumping all over the place. Curse my ADD.
When it comes to cybernetics, I am a bit ... skittish. I am okay with those with birth defects and amputees getting cybernetics but what of us healthy people? I am in no mood to have my arms and legs, organs and eyes hacked off and have cybernetic ones implanted.
But that is many, many years down the road before that happens. But since we are talking about cybernetics today, check this out.
http://www.popsci.com/science/artic...obotic-arm-could-be-available-just-four-years
 
You know, I was in Math class, today, and I got to thinking:
If they can make clones in Star Wars, why didn't they clone Anakin, and implant the clone's organs in place of Anakin's burnt ones, attach the clone's limbs to Anakin, and graft the clone's skin onto Anakin's burns? It's completely medically possible, and since they already can make human clones in short periods of time... I get the feeling the Emperor is just a douche.
 
I get the feeling the Emperor is just a douche.
Well, we KNEW that...

But in some of the Star Wars novels, they explain why you can't clone Force-sensitives: the short version is, Force bonds from both of them being essentially the same being drive one or both of them insane.

On topic, I'm hoping cybernetics research continues a lot further down the road it's on. One of my friends was born with a nerve defect leaving her entire left side at only half capacity, and I've been thinking of ways to make some rough mechanical aids to help her limbs function more easily. Programming would have been a *****, though.
 
I have a friend who hasn't had the use of his left leg in his entire life. I don't know what is actually wrong, but the muscle didn't work or something, so his parents had his leg amputated, and I think it would be absolutely amazing if scientists could actually produce a prosthetic that would function like a human leg, rather than the prosthetic common now that is basically just two rods and a spring. Up until recently, though, that's kinda seemed like a pipe dream, ya know?
 
I have a friend who hasn't had the use of his left leg in his entire life. I don't know what is actually wrong, but the muscle didn't work or something, so his parents had his leg amputated, and I think it would be absolutely amazing if scientists could actually produce a prosthetic that would function like a human leg, rather than the prosthetic common now that is basically just two rods and a spring. Up until recently, though, that's kinda seemed like a pipe dream, ya know?
Yeah, and now we can use residual nerve signals - the phantom limb amputees often describe - to make moving prostheses. Amazing.
 
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