Danielle Green’s arm weighs the same as canned corned beef. It’s battery-powered, can easily lift 35kg and is inspired by Call of Duty.
Danielle, a US Army veteran, has become the first person in the world to be fitted with a custom bionic prosthetic arm called the Hero RGD.
The Chicago local, 48, lost her arm while serving in Baghdad, Iraq, 20 years ago when a grenade exploded, nearly killing her.
As a left-hander, she had to re-learn everything from writing to chopping vegetables.
But now, when Danielle moves, sensors in her left arm track muscle movements and send a signal to her hand to perform the job, such as doing the cooking or high-fiving her son.
In other words, the mum’s robotic arm is controlled just like a regular arm – with the mind.
Danielle said: ‘When I’m chopping a cucumber, tomato, or onion, the arm keeps food steady so it doesn’t roll away.
‘I can confidently hold a pot or [frying-pan] in place. Before, I had to balance the handle of the pot against my stomach.
‘Now I can just hold it with my bionic arm, which feels natural. It also takes stress off my sound hand, which makes a difference day to day.’
The tech, created by Bristol robotic company, Open Bionics, was unveiled at the esports tournament Call of Duty Endowment Bowl VI on Monday.
The Hero RGD can absorb heavy shocks, work reliably in wet conditions and has spring-loaded fingers that can close in 0.4 seconds.
The Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit that helps veterans, reached out to Open Bionics to create the arm inspired by the video game series ‘to reflect her strength and identity’, Open Bionics said.
Danielle, an Army Military Police soldier, was fitted with the prosthetic after losing her left arm on May 25, 2004.
She watched as a rocket-propelled grenade almost hit a barricade two stories below her.
‘I grabbed my M4, got into position, and then another grenade landed near me. In an instant, my left arm was gone,’ Danielle recalled.
She now hopes that her bionic arm, which includes custom covers co-designed with the Call of Duty Endowment, will inspire others to get fitted.
Around 50,000 veterans in the US have suffered a major limb loss – of them, 30,000 had lost an upper limb, according to official figures in 2022.
Danielle said: ‘I love my bionic arm. It gives me balance, it makes me feel whole, makes me feel complete.
‘As a female combat veteran wearing this arm in public, I know it’s about more than just me.
‘Little girls who’ve lost a limb see someone like them moving forward with confidence. Their parents see it too, and it creates a ripple effect of awareness and possibility.
‘In the military, we never leave anyone behind, and that’s how I see this project.
‘This is my way of helping hundreds of thousands of veterans who are looking for employment or a new purpose in life.’
The technology behind prosthetic limbs has been turbocharged in recent years by the rise of 3-D printing and artificial intelligence (AI).
Being fitted with a prosthetic typically involves taking a cast of a person’s limb before attaching electrodes around the area of the lost body part.
Technicians ask the person to think about doing a task, like twisting a doorknob, which provides data used to teach the prosthetic how to move.
But prosthetic technology is in no way perfect, Samantha Payne MBE, the co-founder of Open Bionics, told Metro. Many amputees have to carry multiple arms to carry out tasks, like working or exercising.
‘Now, you just need one wireless arm and you can use any attachment you like, a bionic hand, or sports attachment,’ she said. ‘No more lugging around multiple arms.’
She added: ‘This has been years of hard work. The design pushes the very boundaries of what is physically possible.’
Researchers have found that amputees who opt not to use a prosthetic arm do so for comfort or fears that one splash of water could fry the kit.
Payne said: ‘The Hero RGD holds all components in the palm of the hand, making it the first design ever built to house a battery enabling wireless control.
‘Importantly, it enables amputees to be able to get it wet without worrying about frying electronics – something that has plagued amputees with bionic hands for a very long time.’
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