Aug 21 2007Rocket Fuel Powered Arm
Your current bionic arm just not cutting it? Tired of just rocking a pirate hook? Well a team at Vanderbilt University has developed a prosthetic arm that's powered by, that's right folks, rocket fuel! The team came up with the idea while trying to develop a system that functions with the same strength of a human arm.
Conventional prosthetic arms do not have the strength of their flesh-and-blood counterparts, the reason being the batteries. In order to lift comparable weights, a prosthetic arm would need a massive battery, too large for the prosthesis itself. So (project leader) Michael Goldfarb started thinking about other ways to power the artificial limbs, and came up with the idea of using the monopropellant rocket motor system that the space shuttle uses to maneuver in space.
It's pretty clear that this team lives by the same credo that I do. When trying to solve a problem, always consider some sort of projectile or explosive material in the final design. I mean, really, who needs a ding-dong anyways when you can have it torn or blown off by your bionic arm.
A video after the jump.
UPDATE: A scary picture of the robot arm wielding a gun after the jump.
Rocket Fuel Powered Arm [gizmodo]
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Reader Comments
1. TQ - August 21, 2007 9:34 AM
T1000?
2. uruwai - August 21, 2007 10:27 AM
YAY!
Looks pretty awesome to me.
The only way they could improve it is by loading it with the NANANANANANANA sound from the "The 6 million dollar man" TV Show.
That would ROCK
3. Superevil - August 21, 2007 10:56 AM
I would chop my own arm off just to get one of these, only problem is going down to the local grocery store for a case of rocket fuel somehow I feel that might be an issue.
4. ada - August 21, 2007 2:08 PM
Can you imagine going through the security gates at the airport with this thing?!?! Bomb, what bomb? Oh, that's just my rocket-powered prosthetic arm.
5. a - August 27, 2007 2:21 PM
by the way, the guy who invented this thing is my advisor at Vanderbilt. Just saying.
6. Hav - May 9, 2009 7:30 PM
The rocket fuel is actually hydrogen peroxide, but at ~80-95%
It expands 500 times when it comes in contact with the catalyst.
7. H3xx - June 8, 2009 10:04 AM
It's not Rocket fuel. It's Hydrogen peroxide. It's basically a propulsion system, Ala' supersoaker