Robert W. Mann’s Boston Arm

MIT professor Robert W. Mann, an engineer and former rocket scientist, developed the world’s first biomedical prosthetic device. In the 1960s, Mann helped produce a complex prosthetic elbow that joined an electromechanical device with remnant muscle tissue, to enable amputees to perform a lifting action. The device became known as the “Boston Arm.“ This video shows archival footage of this prosthetic as well as early research in the field of rehabilitation engineering.