Claudia Mitchell, who lost an arm in a motorcycle accident more than two years ago, is the first woman to be fitted with an experimental bionic arm. When her brain gives a command to open her hand, the signals are picked up by a harness she wears. A computer then translates and issues the command to the arm that is powered by six lightweight motors. She was recently able to eat steak in a conventional manner for the first time in two years. “That was a very big thing for me,” she later stated.

The former U.S. Marine is one of six people that are testing the bionic arms that have been developed by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. The company received funding from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Doctor Todd Kuiken, the developer of the bionic arm used by Mitchell, hopes to one day make bionic legs. Kuiken and his team do not have an estimate on when the bionic arm will be out of the experimental stage.

The bionic arm is still far from completely mimicking a traditional human arm, however. Even though she will be able to open items like jars and doors and peel bananas, she is not able to type on a keyboard or throw a ball.