How do prosthetic limbs work? Are they connected to your brain or something? How do you make them move?

Question

How do prosthetic limbs work? Are they connected to your brain or something? How do you make them move?

In: 9

Answer 1

For arms, body-powered prosthetics have been available for decades. Folks learn to use chest, shoulder or other muscles to open/close the hand or hook, move the elbow, etc.

More recently myoelectric prosthetics were developed. These use electrical sensors to detect muscle movements and then move the limb using motors and batteries.

So the answer is, sort of, the newer prostheses are connected to your brain in the sense that they make use of your brain’s ability to generate impulses through your nervous system to existing muscles in your body and “repurpose” those signals to control movements of your prosthetic. But I’m not aware of anything that’s commercially available that comes anywhere close to the Cyberpunk or Deus Ex version of cybernetic devices. We’re still a ways off from understanding the brain well enough to wire modifications directly to the brain.