Amputees could get a second chance at life with AI and Robotics!

Just the thought of losing a bodily part is excruciatingly painful, not to mention the worst-case scenario of losing both your arms. As you are already aware, such unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances have been the reality of many who have long accepted their fate but often wish for a second chance at having a normal life.

Sadly, these amputees may have been skilled or talented people who had no choice but to give up their career dreams, quit their jobs while others are now dependent on third parties for physical assistance. However, with the power of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence technology and its most recent developments surrounding prosthetics, all of this could change in a blink of an eye, giving amputees another chance at life.

Developers have taken innovation in prosthetics up a notch, creating artificial robotic arms that instantly respond each time it detects electrical waves given off from movement or flexing of an amputees' muscles. Firstly, the algorithm must learn to decode user's intention and then translate it into finger movement of the prosthetic hand. The amputee must perform a series of hand movements in order to train the algorithm that uses machine learning. Nonetheless, these arms differ from the traditional prosthetic arms and does more than just opening and closing its fist. Powered by Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, the arms resemble and function exactly like a real arm.

At Georgia Tech's Center for Music Technology, research engineers have also been successful at designing both a specialized robotic drumstick and piano arm that collects intel, improvises and duplicates the amputee's musical playing skills; becoming smarter the more they are engaged. These musical robotic arms operate similar to the way babies develop and learn. Although these prosthetic arms are far from perfect, they are promising and encourage engineers to keep improving with hope of restoring faith in those who've lost an arm.