Cybernetic limb prosthesis: The ALZA distinguished lecture

The last two decades have witnessed a worldwide effort to provide limb amputees with prostheses which better emulate the natural control of the normal limb. The general schema is the detection of biopotentials indicative of centralnervous-system intent followed by timely and high-fidelity transfer of such signals to servomechanisms which mimic the ablated articulations-hence the adoption of Norbert Wiener's term “cybernetic” as the control...