Kenyan inventors David Gathu and Moses Kinyua may have changed millions of disabled people’s lives, creating a prosthetic arm powered by brain signals.
The signals are converted into an electric current by a “NeuroNode” biopotential headset receiver, which is then driven into the robot’s circuitry — allowing the arm to move. The prosthetic arm is made with several materials, including recycled wood and discarded computer parts.
“Almost one million people live without an upper limb or a lower limb so we thought of how can we help them locomote in their daily activities,” Kinua said.
Guthua’s inspiration for the invention was sparked by his love of movies as a child: “I was inspired by movies like Robocop… My uncle was a radio and TV repairman,” Gathua explained.
Gathua and Kinua are both college dropouts, leaving school after not being able to keep up with tuition fees. They did not allow the disappointment to dissuade them, following their passion, teaching themselves using skills learned from a high school science group and books.
Health experts are already hailing the invention as revolutionary for Kenya as prosthetic limbs are a rare commodity in the county. In the long run, the creation could help boost economic growth if the country is able to make them commercially available to other countries.
Take a look at the groundbreaking invention below:
