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Earlier this month, the United States Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) announced that they would be fast-tracking DARPA's
brain-controlled robotic arm. They aim
to push the device through the approvals process with priority assistance in
order to get it to amputees in as soon as four or five years.
Using a chip implanted in the users' brain to signal and
control movement, DARPA's arm is being touted as the most realistic prosthetic
limb to ever be approved. It was designed by some of the brightest minds in
prosthetic design, robotics, and brain-machine interfaces and made possible
with $100 million in research funding.
Traditional FDA approvals processes would take nearly a
decade before the device could come to market. However, a new initiative aims
to bring the "most important" technologies and to market much faster.
In the meantime, DARPA plans on implanting chips in the
brains of five patients in as soon as six months. These clinical trials will be
looking to see if the chips degrade, or if the body rejects them. If
successful, the time-frame of four-to-five years for commercial availability
will be realistic.
Source: Popular
Science
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