This brain-controlled prosthetic will lend you a hand — and a whole arm

For years, scientists have been exploring how we can use signals from the brain to control prosthetic limbs. Usually, this work is focused on restoring motor function to people who have lost an arm or a leg, but new research from Japan shows how the same technology can also be used to augment existing human capabilities.

Engineers from Kyoto's Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute have demonstrated how people can be taught to control a third robotic arm with their brains, even using the limb to multitask. As described in a paper published in the journal Science Robotics today, eight of 15 test subjects were able to successfully balance a ball on a board with their hands, while grabbing a water bottle with a brain-controlled...

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