A Luke Arm is a prosthetic arm with a moveable shoulder.
The Luke Arm is the only prosthetic arm that has a moveable shoulder.
Because the Luke Arm has a movable shoulder the Luke Arm allows the person or a shoulder-level amputee to reach over their head.
In its shoulder configuration, the LUKE arm features ten powered joints.
Shoulder Abduction and Adduction.
A biomedical engineering team at the University of Utah created the “LUKE Arm,” named in honor of the robotic hand Luke Skywalker obtains in “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” after Darth Vader slices off his hand with a lightsaber.
The Luke arm itself is made of mostly metal motors and parts with a clear silicon “skin” over the hand.
It is powered by an external battery and wired to a computer.
The Luke Arm was developed by DEKA Research & Development Corp., a New Hampshire-based company founded by Segway inventor Dean Kamen.
The LUKE arm, by Mobius Bionics, is the most advanced prosthesis on the market and the only commercially-available prosthesis with a powered shoulder (up to 10 powered joints), allowing a shoulder-level amputee to reach over their head.
In addition to the many control input options, the LUKE arm may be controlled with Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) that are typically worn on the user's shoes.
They read the tilt of the user's foot and interpret each movement like a joystick to control the arm.