Recently, Leslie Baugh became the first man in the world to be able to control two robotic arms with his mind. Baugh became a double amputee after a freak electrical accident at his work years ago. Since then he has not been able to do things that most people take for granted everyday such as getting something from the fridge or tying his shoes. The robotic arms were developed by a research team and John Hopkins University and have been in development for years.
Link to the original article with more information on the man who can control two robotic arms with his mind: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/double-amputee-becomes-first-to-control-two-105530561789.html
I think that it is pretty cool that technology like this has been developed. There are many people around the world that are in situations in which they would benefit greatly from having a robotic arm that they could control with ease. Even people who don't have amputations could benefit from technology like this. An example of this would be people who are almost completely paralyzed, such as Stephen Hawking. Although the technology has a long ways to go before it is able to be used by a person everyday it shows a lot of promise. Baugh was able to pick up things such as balls and move them to other areas and drop them into things such as bowls. Prior to actual using the arm Baugh was trained/probed on a computer program where the scientists were able to work with him to develop the movements of the arm and develop ways to determine the patterns in his mind (they would tell him to think of moving his hand and then they would record any electrical patterns they noticed in the probes so then they could identify them later and cause the robotic arm to act accordingly).
I think that technology like this will be able to help out everybody with a disability in the near future. Hopefully it will be readily available for those who are handicapped.
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