Revolutionizing prosthetics - laying an open architecture foundation for collaborative research and design

The Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 (RP2009) Program is an aggressive four year program funded by the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The program seeks to develop a new generation of modular upper extremity limb systems, neural interface devices and clinical tools that will significantly improve patient acceptance and outcomes for upper extremity prosthetic users. The goal is to develop limbs that look, behave and are controlled more naturally than any prosthetic limbs to date. As a result, the team involves over 30 organizations and spans a full range of disciplines from engineering, scientific research, medicine and rehabilitation. The talk will discuss the implications of “Revolutionizing” the field and will challenge the audience to leverage their own research towards common goals via the open system architecture foundation of the program.