First woman gets bionic arm

As The Washington Post reports, 26-year old Claudia Mitchell has become the fourth person and first woman to get outfitted with a bionic arm (well, besides Lindsay Wagner), with which she's able to perform functions simply by thinking about them. The arm was designed by researchers at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago -- who are part of a larger project funded by DARPA -- and works by detecting the movement's of Mitchell's chest muscle, which has been rewired to the nerves that once served her left arm. Eventually, researchers say, the arm could even give Mitchell the sense of touch, with electrodes in the hand sending signals to her chest skin, which her brain would recognize as a sensation. This being part of a DARPA project though, we're sure they're also working on things they're not telling us, like crazy swinging grappling hook action.

[Thanks, Spluch]

[docsharp01 @ Mar 31st 2008 9:24PM]

Excellent article and comments about the first woman to get bionic arm.
http://www.1-satellite-tv-facts.com

[Scabies @ Sep 14th 2006 11:47AM]

So very cool, and so very creepy simultaneously. Long sleeved shirts, dear.

[prodigal_son @ Sep 14th 2006 11:49AM]

couldnt they have got her a black hand?

[gung-ho! @ Sep 14th 2006 11:54AM]

"Humans, we used to be just like them, flawed, weak, organic. But we evolved to include the synthetic, now we use both to achieve perfection." -Borg Queen.

Not too far off the mark eh? I just had no idea it would be so soon.

[lonck @ Sep 14th 2006 11:54AM]

I for one, welcome our bionic overladies...

[riley @ Sep 14th 2006 11:58AM]

first order of business: break into someone's house and reenact the scene from T2 where ahnold cuts his arm open.

[Fabian Bauhaus @ Sep 14th 2006 11:59AM]

The picture reminds me of the movie "Virus".

[CRANK @ Sep 14th 2006 12:05PM]

If I ever lose an arm, I want it replaces with a rocket launcher that has a steel claw at the end.

[Ben @ Sep 14th 2006 12:07PM]

GO GO GADGET ARM!!

[Michael @ Sep 14th 2006 12:49PM]

I wonder when the first bitch slap with a bionic arm will take place.

[Lee @ Sep 14th 2006 12:22PM]

When she moves does it goes daaa naaaaa naaaa daaa naaa naaa?

I want to know if there are any peripherals with this arm... Can you use your finger and thumb as a phone?

[buZz @ Sep 14th 2006 12:25PM]

Am I the only one that finds this sexy? O_o

[alonzo @ Sep 14th 2006 12:26PM]

LOL "crazy swinging grappling hook action"..

but indeed give this woman a blach version of the hand, I don't think it really makes a difference on the total cost of this baby..

[sinjinn @ Sep 14th 2006 12:48PM]

this is very very cool. kudos to DARPA

[strider_mt2k @ Sep 14th 2006 12:55PM]

Slackers.

Not one mention of the "Kung-Fu Grip"?

[Khuffie @ Sep 14th 2006 1:07PM]

Question: does the fact that she's a woman have anything to do with anything? Why must we differentiate her from men? What's the point?

[Nick Ellis @ Sep 14th 2006 1:51PM]

This one I actually posted before you guys.
http://www.digitaldrops.com.br/drops/2006/09/a_mulher_bionica_ja_e_uma_real.html

Keep up the great work.

[Jon @ Sep 14th 2006 1:17PM]

If you read the article they explain why it is significant that she is a woman. For the past three people they had to remove chest tissue to get the thing to work, but that would be particularly disfiguring for a women so this is the first one where they did not have to do that.

[Mr. B @ Sep 14th 2006 1:24PM]

Although it's obvious we have a long way to go in the realm of medical technology, this is a great step forward.

[Dave @ Sep 14th 2006 1:28PM]

Does it come with a camera and MP3 player?

[eli @ Sep 14th 2006 1:50PM]

I've wanted a bionic arm since I saw 'Heavy Metal' and 'Akira'

I think the time has come for me to cut my arm off. I will be sure to cross my severed limbs fingers in the hopes that I get a kickass bionic arm.

[Hollowcorpse @ Sep 14th 2006 8:44PM]

Is it water-proofed? LoL how does she take showers!?

[bg @ Sep 15th 2006 5:10PM]

My stomach just turned

[David Dancer @ Sep 14th 2006 2:08PM]

I'm pretty sure I'd rather be without the arm... that thing is quite upsetting.

[citizen insane @ Sep 14th 2006 2:26PM]

^^ What?!? Fool, bionic arms are cool not ugly. I would love to rock a prothestic if I lost a limb. (It'd be fun to hack too!)

[Ken @ Sep 14th 2006 2:32PM]

I'm still trying to figure out why they would go through all the trouble and complications of grafting the severed nerves to the pectoralis instead of developing a "nerve cap" to detect the signals directly. I'd figure this would be a more direct and more functional solution.

[Huh? @ Sep 14th 2006 3:21PM]

I wonder if she crushes you when she strokes it...

[Erk @ Sep 17th 2006 2:55PM]

@Ken, maybe you should develop these then instead of spewing it out on a website.

[Terry @ Sep 14th 2006 4:08PM]

It is obvious that this is not her biological arm, so why do they insist on making it that damned band-aid "flesh" color. Make it chrome or black or something... ANYTHING but that revolting and insulting tan/peach/beige dreck.

To buZz: "no"

[jason @ Sep 14th 2006 4:19PM]

some of you guys have posted quite offencive comments, i bet for the woman who has lost a part of her body she is grateful with such an achievemnt. Obviously its not of any value but comedy for you people sitting there with your arms intact behind your little screens. Im ashamed for you. I have an uncle who has lost his entire arm in a working accident, and to be abelt to "feel again" or be able to take control of his prosthetic limb would have been a dream.

RANT NOVER

[HaDes @ Sep 14th 2006 4:24PM]

...and the first man will be Will Smith

[z3rr0 @ Sep 14th 2006 4:33PM]

"This being part of a DARPA project though, we're sure they're also working on things they're not telling us, like crazy swinging grappling hook action."

ROTFLMFAO.

[Peej @ Sep 14th 2006 5:04PM]

I love the title:

First woman gets bionic arm.
Read: Eve gets a bionic arm

I guess that God smited (smitted? had been smitten?) her for eating that darn apple. So would this be a technological fig leaf?!

[Incognito @ Sep 14th 2006 5:23PM]

I'd tap that.

[Matt E. @ Sep 14th 2006 5:23PM]

Glad it works for her. Honestly, I think its ugly. C'mon this is 2006 - THE FUTURE. We should all have jet cars, robot maids, robot pets, and flesh covered synthetic appendages. That arm should look real. Color me not impressed.

[heathervescent @ Sep 14th 2006 6:17PM]

How long until tattoos for your bionic appendages?

[Oddmanout @ Sep 15th 2006 7:20AM]

Anyone remember "Innerspace" ? Two words and a hyphen...


Snap-on


And if anyone thinks I'm making fun of her I'm not. I'm making light of the situtation. There is a signifigant difference.

[bogphanny @ Sep 14th 2006 9:54PM]

"Obviously its not of any value but comedy for you people sitting there with your arms intact behind your little screens."

I don't want to speak on behalf of all comedians here at engadget comment central, but I myself have a rather large screen. All 15" to be precise! Grow up, buy your uncle a new arm, and move on.

/going straight to hell
//anyone want to carpool?

[Zilla @ Sep 14th 2006 11:45PM]

Eli, you WANTED a bionic arm after watching Akira? I watched it today, right before reading this article... my bionic arm dreams came to their greatest decline and fruition on the same day.

[Richard @ Sep 15th 2006 2:55AM]

It had better have enough USB 2.0 ports. And bluetooth.

[Kris @ Sep 15th 2006 4:07AM]

Well i'll be that is quite the bionic wonder if she can smash aluminum cans with it?

[Steven Palter, MD @ Sep 15th 2006 2:45PM]

DARPA does bionic arm again. There is surely stuff going on you do not know about. I heeard from one of their docs last week about the leg version on 2 soldiers in Iraq still not openly reported by them. http://docinthemachine.com/archives/12

[will @ Sep 15th 2006 11:34PM]

i would be scared that i would wake up and it was killing me