We can rebuild them...

摘要

According to ancient history, the Persian warrior Hegesistratus escaped from his enemies in 484 BC by cutting off his ownfoot to escape his shackles. The soldier later took to wearing a wooden foot. If the tale is true, this would be the first recorded use of a prosthetic limb. Artificial legs, arms and hands - often hooks - followed. But it took two millennia for the next major advance to emerge, when French army surgeon Ambroise Pare designed a more natural "articulated", or jointed, leg in 1529. The prosthetic leg had made the technological leap from rigid pole to a more natural, flexible limb. more important advance in prosthetics that should transform the lives of people who have lost arms or legs - the development of the ultimate bionic limb, wired directly into the nervous system. Recipients will be able to move these devices by the power of thought alone, as well as receive lifelike sensations from them. Sensory feedback from artificial limbs is in fact turning out to play a surprisingly important role in the development of responsive, naturalistic devices.