I was looking online for some cheap robotics to play with, and I came across several kits to make robotic arms. For some reason I then remembered that a while back someone made a PS2 controller that uses brainwaves. It only seems logical to me to combine the technologies and creates brain controlled prosthetic limbs. Has this been done?

 

edit: Apparently, this company is working on a way to give some sensory perception back to amputees, but I've not yet seen anything about brain controlled prosthetics.

It seems DARPA is working on something along the lines of what I'm looking for, but it doesn't give too much information.

 

Here is something similar to what I was talking about with the video game, but it isn't the same one. Wikipedia has an article on brain-computer interfaces.

Brain-Computer interfaces in the area of artificial vision are advanced enough to permit a blind user to drive a vehicle(although it was done slowly in a private parking lot). It isn't anywhere near normal vision, but it could give hope to millions of blind people. If the brain-computer interface used advances enough, it would seem to me that artificial vision could one day become superior to biological vision.

I couldn't find anything up to date, but here's an article on the first success in this area (your OP.)

 

http://www.mindfully.org/Technology/2005/Chip-Reads-Mind31mar05.htm

 

I swear I remember a news article last year, where a replacement prosthetic arm was controlled by the user using thought alone... beyond the rather limited movement in the case above, I'll have another browse.

I recall seeing something about "brain fingers" http://www.brainfingers.com/ a while back on some TV show.

 

and I know that there are things out there that can use remaining nerves to control prosthetics. http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/18134/

Already been done by the HAL series exoskeleton prosthetic. It snses electrical impulses on the skin from the wearer's brain. For more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_5

Donut, you're thinking wheelchair where I'm thinking bionic leg.

Did you look at the link? It's more of an exoskeleton. Sure it's not a quite a prosthetic, but its much more than a mere wheelchair. I was just thinking that HAL technology could be coverted into a prosthetic.

Advanced HAL technology:

 

Advanced Prosthetics:

 

 

See the difference?

Yeah, I get what you mean (Only problem is that HAL is not Samus).

But you do agree that the technology could be converted to a prosthetic?

Donut's right, while the HAL is more like a suit, it still encompasses the general idea of prosthetics.