There might be a more intuitive way to control robots and drones than waggling joysticks or tapping at a screen. MIT CSAIL researchers have developed a control method, Conduct-A-Bot, that uses muscle sensors and motion detection for more'natural' robot control. Algorithms detect gestures using both your movement as well as the activity in your biceps, forearms and triceps. You can wave your hand, clench your fist or even tense your arm to steer the bot. The system doesn't need environmental cues, offline calibration or per-person training.

A new lower-cost method for creating high-tech prosthetics aims to make the devices much more accessible to amputees around the world – especially children. New York-based prosthetics company Unlimited Tomorrow unveiled its amazing 3D-printed prosthetic arm at CES this week. The arm is equipped with muscle sensors and an artificially intelligent control system, which work together to give child amputees the ability to grip objects and move their fingers individually. New York-based prosthetics company Unlimited Tomorrow unveiled its amazing 3D-printed prosthetic arm at CES this week. While the arms can be made to fit a diverse range of recipients, Unlimited Tomorrow focuses on creating kids' prosthetics Typical high-tech prosthetics can cost a family tens of thousands of dollars out-of-pocket, even with insurance considered, Ella Scarchilli, who does marketing for Arrow Electronics, told Dailymail.com

Based on "Connected Arms", a keynote talk at the O'Reilly AI Conference delivered by Joseph Sirosh, CTO for AI at Microsoft. There are over 1 million new amputees every year, i.e. one every 30 seconds – a truly shocking statistic. The World Health Organization estimates that between 30 to 100 million people around the world are living with limb loss today. Unfortunately, only 5-15% of this population has access to prosthetic devices. Although prostheses have been around since ancient times, their successful use has been severely limited for millennia by several factors, with cost being the major one.