Amputee can feel objects again with prosthetic arm inspired by Luke Skywalker

CNN — About 17 years ago, Keven Walgamott lost his left hand and part of his forearm in an electrical accident. A biomedical engineering team at the University of Utah created the “LUKE Arm,” named in honor of the robotic hand Luke Skywalker obtains in “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” after Darth Vader slices off his hand with a lightsaber. The LUKE Arm sends signals to the brain in order to mimic the way a human hand can feel and sense information about an object, like whether it’s soft, hard, lightweight or heavy. During different tests using the LUKE Arm, Walgamott was able to handle fragile objects like removing grapes from their stems and pick up an egg without crushing or cracking them. Jacob George/University of Utah “It almost put me to tears,” Walgamott said after using the LUKE Arm for the first time in 2017.