Anicet Mbida 06:44, May 29, 2023

Anicet Mbida gives us every morning what is best in innovation. This Monday, he is interested in the work of Jizai Arms, a specialist in robotics, on additional arms for humans.

Last weekend, there was a lot of talk about this paraplegic man who managed to walk again thanks to an implant in his brain. A technology closely monitored by other researchers who are working to equip us with additional arms.

See Doctor Octopus, Spider Man's enemy with his tentacles? Well, they are looking to create the same thing: a kind of backpack from which come out four robotic arms that you could control with your brain. You have to imagine the scene: you want to do work, dishes or crafts. You put on your backpack. And with your six arms (two natural and four robotic), you can do a lot of things at the same time as if you were Shiva.

This is the great idea of "augmenting man" through technology. We started by creating tools like extensions of our hands (hammers, screwdrivers). For many, the next step will be to directly improve our physical abilities with exoskeletons, earbuds and glasses that multiply our strength and senses. We have a first example with these extra arms.

Is it a product that exists or is it purely research?

It exists. We will put the photos on the social networks of the show.

These are arms developed by Jizai Arms, a robotics specialist, and researchers at the University of Tokyo in Japan. The first objective: to study how a person behaves when he finds himself with extra arms. It turns out that the brain ends up believing that it really has extra arms. So be careful, because it's hard to get rid of it!

Current models are still controlled by a remote control. The goal is to control them through thought. Hence the interest in the work currently being done on paraplegics to decode brain signals.

And this is something that could be marketed?

Yes, that's their goal: that you can buy arms or rent them in a DIY store, as you rent a brushcutter or a jigsaw today. But I think that these technologies will, above all, serve people who are disabled, amputees or disabled. It can make you dream of having six arms. But some would give a lot to have it, even if only one... that works.