Design Considerations in Upper Extremity Prostheses

In 2005 the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiated the “Revolutionizing Prosthetics” program with the goal of dramatically increasing the functionality and capability of upper extremity prosthetic solutions [1]. To support the general goal of restoring near-normal functionality to our wounded servicemembers and other prosthesis users, DARPA particularly focused on increasing the degrees of freedom (DOF) and the capability of the control schemes available to the user. Within the spectrum of research funded as part of the program, our team, led by DEKA Integrated Solutions, was charged with development of a prosthetic arm system that offered dramatic improvements in capability using only non-invasive control schemes.