Bionic Arm Powered by Hydrogen Peroxide

August 24, 2007 | By Hydro Kevin Kantola | Filed in: Hydrogen Economy.

Okay, I’ll admit it’s a bit of a stretch talking about a hydrogen-powered bionic arm on a hydrogen car website. Be that as it may, this story grabbed by attention as another mechanical device I hadn’t thought about that could be powered by the most abundant element in the universe.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have developed a bionic arm powered by hydrogen peroxide and a catalyst that causes the peroxide to burn at 450 degrees F. The arm is part of a $30 million project sponsored by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency).

Several times in the past, I’ve talked about powering vehicles with hydrogen peroxide. The bionic arm article caught my attention and now I have a new vision for the future, which is a bunch of people driving around in their hydrogen peroxide cars with bionic arms powered by the same fuel.

Like I said, this is quite a stretch. But, in the future the stretch may just be the stretch of the hydrogen-powered bionic arm reaching for the steering wheel or giving the appropriate gesture when getting cut off in traffic. Then again, as comedian Steven Wright might say, I am simply a “peripheral visionary” and I’ll leave it at that.


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