A team of scientists from Switzerland’s EPFL, led by Professor Sylvester Micera, has conducted research into the possibility of humans using a third arm. This was done as part of the Third Arm project, which aims to study the possibilities of human use of artificial body parts. In this case, the possibilities of concentrating attention on controlling three functional limbs at once were studied.
In the first phase of the study, participants were given virtual reality headsets, gloves and a special belt with sensors for abdominal muscle movements. Three hands were displayed in VR, the third was symmetrical, with two thumbs on each side, and was controlled by abdominal movements. Experiments with 61 volunteers for 150 hours showed that people very quickly learn this system and begin to control the third hand quite well.
