Cleveland Clinic researchers have engineered a "first-of-its-kind bionic arm" for patients with upper-limb amputations that allows wearers to think, behave and function like a person without an amputation, according to new findings published in Science Robotics. The Cleveland Clinic-led international research team developed the bionic system that combines three important functions – intuitive motor control, touch and grip kinesthesia, the intuitive feeling of opening and closing the hand. Collaborators included University of Alberta and University of New Brunswick. "We modified a standard-of-care prosthetic with this complex bionic system which enables wearers to move their prosthetic arm more intuitively and feel sensations of touch and movement at the same time," said lead investigator Paul Marasco, PhD, associate professor in Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute's Department of Biomedical Engineering. "These findings are an important step towards providing people with amputation with complete restoration of natural arm function."