US regulators approved for sale and marketing of a prosthetic arm made by Dean Kamen, the inventor of Segway Human Transporter. The US regulators called the prosthetic arm the first such device which is able to respond to multiple simultaneous commands from a wearer’s brain.

The US Food and Drug Administration said that electrodes which are attached to the prosthetic arm, detect muscle contractions which are close to the prosthesis and a computer translates the contractions into movement. Almost ten movements can be detected by the prosthetic arm, which is the same shape and weight as a natural human arm. The prosthetic arm is controlled by electric signals from electromyogram electrodes connected to the muscles of the wearer.

DEKA Research and Development Corp. of Manchester developed the arm with financing from the U.S. Army Research Office and U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DEKA nicknamed the arm “Luke,” based on “Star Wars” movie character Luke Skywalker, who in the movie receives a bionic hand after losing his natural arm in a light saber battle with Darth Vader, who plays his father.

A program manager in the agency’s new Biological Technologies office, Justin Sanchez said that their military personnel would get many benefits due to these devices in which Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency had made an investment.

Sanchez said, the prosthetic arm can provide “near natural upper-arm extremity control” to amputees. Moreover, the device is modular so that it can be fitted to people who’ve suffered any degree of limb loss, from an entire arm to a hand. There are six “grip patterns” that allow wearers to hold a cordless drill, drink a cup of water, or pick up an object among many other functions.

A spokesman for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Rick Weiss said that since 2006, it has given DEKA $40 million to develop the arm. DEKA owns the commercial rights and patents for the device.

Next Step Bionics & Prosthetics Inc helped DEKA develop the device. According to the president of Next Step Bionics & Prosthetics Inc, Matt Albuquerque, the price for the limb won’t be determined and the limb won’t be available for sale until DEKA finds a commercial partner to mass-manufacture it. According to Matt Albuquerque DARPA’s investment was crucial to attract Dean Kamen to the project.

Sanchez and Albuquerque said that prosthetic arm works by attaching electrodes to the surface of shoulder muscles or to the legs or remaining arm of amputees. When these amputees flex their muscles which would have previously been involved in moving their fingers or arm, this DEKA arm or prosthetic arm moves accordingly.

According to Albuquerque amputees don’t need to control the hand, the shoulder or the elbow as they are able to work together in one motion. Sanchez said that alternatively, the limb can also be controlled with leg movement.