Prosthetics

Revolutionizing Prosthetics

Overview

Begun in 2006, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s (DARPA) Revolutionizing Prosthetics program set out to expand prosthetic arm options for wounded warriors. The program provided funding to APL to produce a fully neurally integrated upper-extremity prosthesis to support clinical trials and manufacturing transition. This led to the development of our Modular Prosthetic Limb (MPL).

Our requirements for the MPL were aimed at reflecting the capabilities of a human upper limb, including:

  • mechanical components that would provide equivalent degrees of freedom, strength, and environmental tolerance (to heat, cold water, humidity, dust, etc.)
  • materials that would enable the limb to weight approximately as much as the upper limb of an average human
  • sensors for touch, temperature, vibration, and proprioception (the ability to sense the position of the arm and hand relative to other parts of the body)
  • power that would allow extended continuous use

With this new prosthesis, an individual who has lost their upper limb would be able to manipulate and feel objects as if with a biological hand.

Sponsors

Program Background

DARPA contracted more than $107 million for the APL-led Revolutionizing Prosthetics program to create a fully functional upper limb that responded to direct neural control. The groundbreaking work done under this program capitalized on previous DARPA investments in neuroscience, robotics, sensors, power systems, and actuation. In particular, this program built on DARPA’s Human Assisted Neural Devices program, which decoded the brain’s motor signals with such fidelity that movements of a robotic arm could be controlled entirely by direct brain control.

The following items illustrate DARPA’s rationale, goals, and commitment to Revolutionizing Prosthetics and associated programs.

Partners
Revolutionizing Prosthetics Staff
Revolutionizing Prosthetics Staff

The Revolutionizing Prosthetics team brought together the most respected scientific researchers in their fields, as well as commercial leaders from the prosthetics industry. The project was shaped by a multidisciplinary team that included experts in signal processing and pattern recognition, electrodes for brain implants, mechatronics, neuroscience, electrical engineering, cognitive science, signal processing, battery design, nanotechnology, and even behavioral science.