"Luke Skywalker" Bionic Arm Readies for Clinical Trial

Dean Kamen’s “Luke arm”–a prosthesis named for the remarkably lifelike prosthetic worn by Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars”–came to the end of its two-year funding last month. Its fate now rests in the hands of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which funded the project. If DARPA gives the project the green light–and some greenbacks–the state-of-the-art bionic arm will go into clinical trials. If all goes well, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gives its approval, returning veterans could be wearing the new artificial limb by next year.

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