Can You Lend Me a Hand? Researchers Are Developing Wearable Robotic Limbs

Researchers are developing supernumerary robotic limbs (SRLs) that can be attached to the human body for human movement augmentation, unlike prosthetics that replace missing limbs. Existing SRLs are mostly experimental, controlled mainly by foot pedals, and brain-control approaches have low success rates. Research shows that with feedback provided by vibration motors and electrodes, people can learn the basic operation of controlling a third arm or a sixth finger in under an hour.