Another News Story Related to Disability

[CindehQ]

http://sourcefed.com/2011/05/19/cyborgs ... s-already/

Somehow I can imagine Rin painting designs on her artifical arm. Or Emi putting stickers on it atleast.

[atat]

except that Rin is not an amputee.

[Caesius]

except that Rin is not an amputee.

actually yeah, she is c.f. http://katawa-shoujo.com/characters.php#rin

[Rocket Royal]

Emi is an amputee. How formed were Rin's arms? Was it amputation, or more like corrective surgery?

[Sgt_Frog]

I think the backstory is that Rin was born with severely deformed arms, and were amputated soon after she was born, or a few months after.

[Leotrak]

This is both creepy and awesome O.o

[Mirage_GSM]

Well, it's not quite enough to make me wish for one of those.
Give it another ten years...

Also, this guy only lost his hand. I expect including the ellbow joint for Rin would prove to be a lot more complicated.

[Suriko]

Well, it's not quite enough to make me wish for one of those.
Give it another ten years...

Also, this guy only lost his hand. I expect including the ellbow joint for Rin would prove to be a lot more complicated.

Related:

Prosthetic arm with elbow and shoulder joints.

[CindehQ]

Since Rin never had arms to learn to control, would her brain be able to use completely new limbs added to her. She never developed fine motor skills of the hand and all. It would still be helpful for basic things like pants and shirts, but she'd probably still paint with her feet.

[Mirage_GSM]

Wow, looks like that one works even better.
Hooray for government funding ^^°

[MultipleChoice]

Actually, the technology behind robotic prosthetic limbs is independent of the actual human form. It actually relies on our brains' concept of the tool.

Studies have shown that given enough familiarity, a human can use any tool as a literal extension of themselves. At the simplest level, take a stick and swing it around a bit. After a while, you'll be fairly well able to judge the length of the stick, and be able to use it to carefully tap things at various distances. Expanding on that, think of how you drive your car. You instinctively know how tall and long your car is. You also know, subconsciously, just how much to move your foot on the gas pedal to alter your speed. This is because your brain has literally matched up specific foot and leg movements with the effects it produces on the vehicle. You're not thinking about how to move your foot, but rather how much acceleration or deceleration you wish to apply.

How does this apply to cybernetics? Hook the arm up to nerve endings. It really doesn't matter HOW, so long as each individual action is hooked up to a different nerve. For amputees that already knew how to use a limb, matching the nerve endings somewhat can help them adjust to the limb fast, but at the end of the day the brain will "remap" the various signals to their respective actions. In the end, the only limit on fine dexterity is the equipment itself.

If someone really wanted, they could replace an arm with any number of other cybernetics, including a tentacle-like appendage if they so desired. The human brain would adapt and remap based on how to operate the tentacle, and it would eventually feel completely natural to the person using it.

So yeah, as long as Rin has appropriate nerve endings in her stumps, she could easily use this technology. Of course, I've also put in people's minds the idea of a Rin with tentacle arms, so that may produce something interesting on the shimmie.

EDIT: As one video posted noted, any action on the human body can be remapped to manipulate a cybernetic limb. It's amazing how adaptable the human body is when it comes to tools.

[Mirage_GSM]

How does this apply to cybernetics? Hook the arm up to nerve endings. It really doesn't matter HOW, ...

I guess that's what the hard part is, at least for the time being.
But I like your attitude. If you're not too busy, please bring about world peace by next month. Doesn't really matter how
And since this is the internet, I probably should put up the disclaimer that I don't mean to offend you in any way.

[MultipleChoice]

How does this apply to cybernetics? Hook the arm up to nerve endings. It really doesn't matter HOW, ...

I guess that's what the hard part is, at least for the time being.
But I like your attitude. If you're not too busy, please bring about world peace by next month. Doesn't really matter how

The point is that as long as the body has a way to provide a stimulus to the cybernetic device, the brain will eventually associate the action that causes that stimulus with the action the cybernetic attachment takes. For example, if your body were to suddenly switch all the nerve stimuli for the left and right arms, you would be very confused at first. However, as time went on, you would adapt to it and become just as functional as you were before.

What I meant by it not mattering how you hook them up is it doesn't matter which nerve you hook up to which action, as the brain will eventually map it out. Yes the delicate technology of being able to hook it up in the first place is very advanced (in some cases), but not always. You could in fact hook a prosthetic arm up to a person and have it controlled by movement sensors on that person's face. Or have it controlled by holding colored cards in front of a visual sensor. Or, as shown in the video, have it controlled by pressure sensors underneath your feet. What is important is that the cybernetic is controlled by a stimulus provided by the human body. Once that is achieved, the body will learn to use the device as capably as possible, to the limit of the technology itself.

The reason why hooking things up to nerve endings is so highly desirable is that it can make use of a stimulus that is otherwise superfluous. Yes, the technology for it is very complex, but the actual attachment process can be done without regard for the order in which those nerve endings are hooked up.

Sorry if I didn't make that clear in the initial post, I thought it was given most of the rest of the content. In particular, the rest of the sentence clarifies it in the direction I've indicated. Never underestimate the ability of the internet to take anything out of context.

PS: World Peace is simple: Kill everything. If there is nothing to cause conflict, then peace is achieved.

[griffon8]

It was obvious what you meant to me, MC. Maybe Mirage was just yanking your chain.

PS: World Peace is simple: Kill everything. If there is nothing to cause conflict, then peace is achieved.

I actually saw that episode of X-Files. Weird since I've seen so few of them.

[Mirage_GSM]

I am familar with the technology about to the extent of what you posted - not much deeper than that, though.
What I was trying to convey was that if every limb could really be replaced this easily, why do we still have amputees around? Why doesn't everyone use those? (Everyone who has lost a limb that is...)
There has to be some kind of problem that makes this technology not applicable to every injury. My guess in my last post was that it is still very difficult to attach nerve endings to the prosthetic, but it could be something else entirely.
I don't think it's just cost...