Jesse Sullivan
Jesse Sullivan is the world's first bionic man. He is the first person to operate a fully robotic limb though a nerve-muscle graft.
His bionic arm, a prototype developed by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, differs from most other prosthesis, in that they do not use pull cables or nub switches to function and instead use micro-computers to perform a much wider amount of complex motions. It is also the first prototype which enables him to actually sense pressure.
History
As an electrician, after being accidentally electrocuted by a cable between 7,000 and 7,500 volts in May of 2001, Jesse Sullivan had to have both his arms amputated at the shoulder.
Seven weeks after the amputation, Jesse Sullivan recieved matching bionic prostheses from Dr. Todd Kuiken of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Originally, they were operated from neural signals at the amputation sites, but Jesse Sullivan devolped hyper-sensitivity from his skin grafts, causing great discomfort in those areas. Jesse Sullivan underwent neural surgery to graft, to his chest, nerves originally leading to his arm. The sensors for his bionic arms, have been moved to his chest area to pickup signals from the newly grafted nerve endings.
While the prototype is worked upon, Jesse Sullivan does day-to-day tasks using an older model.
References
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