Externally powered arm prostheses have, to date, with few exceptions been made with simple velocity control of each movement. In order to make such devices controllable the dynamic response must be relatively poor. A prosthesis is being built experimentally for which the specification is based on the biological requirements discussed in McWilliam's paper (see Paper 13). The arms are pneumatically powered and provided with position-control systems. The paper describes the design and construction of such a pair of arms, including a discussion of the problems involved in meeting the design specification while making the device acceptable in terms of weight and appearance.
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