---
title: "The Latest Prostheses Take Orders Directly From Your Nerves"
description: "## What Nerve"
date: "2018-10-09"
modified: "2018-10-09"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/prostheses-arm-nerves"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
  - "Medical"
tags:
  - "coapt"
  - "infinite biomedical technologies"
  - "nicole kelly"
  - "prosthetic"
  - "the digest"
---

# The Latest Prostheses Take Orders Directly From Your Nerves

![New prosthetics can perform dexterous motions like opening beers and grinding pepper, by learning how your specific nervous system gives orders.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/prosthetic-arm-nerves.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Coapt\</em\>*

## What Nerve

Disability rights advocate Nicole Kelly was born without her lower right arm, but using a cutting-edge prosthesis she got last year, she can now grind pepper, play cards, and open beers — just by thinking about the action.

Kelly's is just one tale from a [riveting new *Wired* story](<https://www.wired.com/story/bionic-limbs-learn-to-open-a-beer/>) about the steady improvements in prostheses that take orders directly from users' nerves. The big step forward: software that can make sense of the complex signals from a specific patient's nervous system. We've written about [similar systems before](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/human-brain-neural-network>), but this report is a striking example of how the tech is already changing users' lives.

## Bear Arms

*Wired* talked to people using and testing prostheses containing control systems developed by Coapt and Infinite Biomedical Technologies (IBT). These systems pick up nerve signals via electrodes positioned on a user's upper arm. The user then trains an algorithm to translate their body's signals into natural motions.

Kelly's prosthesis, which uses hardware and software made by Coapt, even has a "reset" button that lets her reboot the algorithm if it's acting up and retrain it, a process that she says takes her just two minutes after about a year of practice.

## C.R.E.A.M.

One problem is that the tech is still very expensive. Coapt's system costs between $10,000 and $15,000, its CEO told *Wired.* Infinite's site doesn't include a price for its setup, which it says will go on sale later this month.

But then again, it’s hard to put a price tag on the satisfaction of cracking open your own beer.

**READ MORE:** [BIONIC LIMBS 'LEARN' TO OPEN A BEER](<https://www.wired.com/story/bionic-limbs-learn-to-open-a-beer/>) \[*Wired*\]

***More on bionic limbs: [A Neural Network, Connected to a Human Brain, Could Mean More Advanced Prosthetics](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/human-brain-neural-network>)***

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)