Teen Inventor Creates $300 Non-Invasive Brain-Controlled Prosthetic Arm

While quarantined in 2020, 17-year-old Benjamin Choi repurposed his sister’s $75 3D printer and a makeshift basement lab to design a prosthetic arm that can be controlled by brain activity without surgery. Using EEG electrodes on the forehead and earlobe, the arm receives brain-wave data transmitted via Bluetooth to an onboard microchip, where Choi’s custom AI algorithm interprets the signals and drives the limb, also responding to head gestures and intentional blinks.

After more than 75 design iterations, the prototype can handle loads up to about four tons and is produced for roughly $300, a stark contrast to commercial options costing $7,000 to $500,000. The system achieved a mean accuracy of 95% in distinguishing intended movements, surpassing previous models. Choi’s achievement placed him among the top 40 finalists of the 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search and secured grants and research positions at MIT, Stony Brook University, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, NASA, and the Kempner Institute at Harvard, where he now studies applied math and computer science.