RT.com is reporting that a new prosthetic arm has been approved for production by the US Food and Drug Administration.
The “DEKA Arm System” has been nick-named, “The Luke” after the Star Wars character “Luke Skywalker”. Luke lost his hand in The Empire Strikes Back to Darth Vader in a tense lightsaber battle. There is no better name for this than that of our favorite Jedi Master and survivor!
I first heard about the news from the Twitter page of Mark Hamill.
The “Luke” can perform multiple movements that are controlled by electrical signals that it detects from the users contracting muscles, which is then translated and messaged to the prosthetic.
“This innovative prosthesis provides a new option for people with certain kinds of arm amputations and may allow some to perform more complex tasks than they can with current prostheses in a way that more closely resembles the natural motion of the arm,” said Christy Foreman, director of the Office of Device Evaluation at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.
The research and development for this kind of technology as well as financial support for those that need prosthetics is expensive. There are a number of amputee charities that you can donate to and we have listed three links below for you to follow. Every dollar helps! You can visit the following sites or visit a local location near you.
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