Self-taught Engineer Builds Brain-Controlled Prosthesis

The Big Picture features technology through the lens of photographers.

Every month, IEEE Spectrum selects the most stunning technology images recently captured by photographers around the world. We choose images that reflect an important advance, or a trend, or that are just mesmerizing to look at. We feature all images on our site, and one also appears on our monthly print edition.

Enjoy the latest image, and if you have suggestions, leave a comment below.

Self-taught Kenyan engineer David Gathu has turned his ingenuity and interest in electronics into innovations that help the disabled. Here he’s wearing the brain-controlled prosthetic arm he and his autodidact cousin Moses Kiuna cobbled together from salvaged parts. The headset picks up brain signals and converts them to electric current that is directed to a transmitter. The transmitter wirelessly relays the signals in the form of commands to the arm, which responds with movements that match the wearer’s intentions.

TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images

​IEEE Spectrum