A step forward in performance-enhancing limbs has been recorded at MIT. From Hal Hodson at New Scientist:

“IF YOU fancy an extra pair of hands, why not take a leaf out of Dr Octopus’s book? A pair of intelligent arms should make almost any job a lot easier.

The semi-autonomous arms extend out in front of the body from the hips and are strapped to a backpack-like harness that holds the control circuitry. The prototype is the handiwork of Federico Parietti and Harry Asada of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who suggest that one of the first uses could be to help factory workers, or those with tricky DIY tasks to perform.

‘It’s the first time I’ve seen robot arms designed to augment human abilities. It’s bold and out of keeping with anything I’ve ever seen to attach two arms to a human,’ says Dave Barrett, a roboticist and mechanical engineer at Olin College in Needham, Massachusetts.

So how are the arms controlled? Parietti and Asada designed the limbs to learn and hopefully anticipate what their wearer wants. The idea is that the algorithms in charge of the limbs would first be trained to perform specific tasks.”