Rocket Powered Prosthetic Arm
This sounds like 1960s sci fi, but it’s actually modern day research.
The Vanderbilt Bionic Arm website has a video containing interviews with the researchers and shows demos of it working.
The site claims:
Unconventional power source could revolutionize the design of prosthetic limbs
The video won my attention by starting out with Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader dueling in “Empire Strikes Back”, then showing Luke’s prosthesis. Anyway, back to reality, the reason for “rocket power” is the use of gas to extend and contract these artificial muscles. Apparently, state of the art robotics for this size, is 1/6 the strength capability of human muscle. So their use of gas to rocket power things gets better size to strength performance. Not surprisingly, some of the funding is coming from the military, whose workers are prone to losing limbs in battle.
See also Rocket-powered mechanical arm could revolutionize prosthetics.
( Via Livejournal Cyberpunk )