--- title: "God Help Us! They Built Real Doctor Octopus Arms" description: "Japanese robotics company Jizai has come up with robotic limb contraption called Arms that can triple the number of arms of its wearer." date: "2023-05-10" modified: "2023-05-11" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/doctor-octopus-arms-cyborg" categories: - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "cyborg" - "Human Augmentation" - "the digest" --- # God Help Us! They Built Real Doctor Octopus Arms ![Janaese robotics company Jizai has come up with robotic limb contraption called Arms that can triple the number of arms of its wearer.]() *\Image: Jizai\* ## Doctor Octavius A Japanese robotics company called Jizai has come up with a strange robotic limb contraption called, appropriately, Arms that can give the wearer extra sets of arms like Marvel's iconic Spider-Man villain Doctor Octopus — well, sort of. An [artfully shot promotional video]() shows two models demonstrating the system's capabilities by dancing to some classical music, allowing the appendages to mimic the movements of their human arms. It's a beautiful exploration of human augmentation that takes a considerable step back from the conventional approach to developing cyborg appendages, most of which have a concrete use case in mind, like allowing those with limited mobility to [make use of robotic arms](). https://youtu.be/ywrK1yTYRIA ## Ana de Armas Jizai's stated goals are quite a bit more abstract than simply having the arms pick up objects. "The system was designed to enable social interaction between multiple wearers, such as an exchange of arm(s), and explore possible interactions between digital cyborgs in a cyborg society," reads the [company's website](). The team was inspired by a 1963 short story written by Nobel Prize-winning author Yasunari Kawabata in which a girl decides to lend her suitor one of her arms for the night. "This novel is obviously a work of fiction, yet, half a century since its writing, emerging human-machine integration technologies have begun to allow us to physically experience Kawabata’s world," the team wrote in a [recently published paper]() about the system. "From our role-playing sessions, we found that our bodies could precisely sense the attachment/detachment of arms, and we especially felt a strong impact when detaching or reducing the number of robotic arms worn," it continues. In short, while we're still far away from having a mad scientist using robotic appendages to take on Spider-Man, scientists are already exploring what it means to augment the human body. And heck, we're intrigued. **More on cyborg arms:** *[Scientists Working on Third Arm You Control Using Your Brain]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()