Why People Abandon High-Tech Prosthetics

That Luke Skywalker Prosthetic Arm May Strike the Average User as Less Than Sensational

You’ve probably seen the Frozen, Iron Man, and Star Wars prosthetics—intended to boost the confidence of kids with missing limbs. Now you can even meet the first man with the Luke Skywalker arm. With today’s ever-increasing technology, some of these once fictional devices are making their way to real life.

This spring, DARPA’s Haptix program hit the media with one of its newest hand prosthetic prototypes. This device from the Defense Department’s research lab adds a novel feature to prosthetic technology: that of a sense of touch. “Without sensation, no …