Jason Barnes (born 1990 in
Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
) is an American
amputee
Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indiv ...
drummer with a
robotic arm
A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints ...
.
Having started out a career with a music band, in 2012 Barnes lost one of his arms in an accident. After the amputation, Barnes created his own
prosthetic arm
In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...
in an attempt to be able to play the drums; he was accepted into the drumming program at the Atlanta Institute of Music.
Later on he started working with
Gil Weinberg at the
Georgia Institute of Technology Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines to develop a cyborg arm that enables him to play his drum kit.
In 2015 he took part in the
Geek Picnic festival in Moscow. He also took part at Robotronica in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
, Australia.
Currently, the experience gathered around Barnes is helping create future technology for
people with disabilities
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, se ...
.
References
External links
Jason Barnes– website
Leading change
Guamanian people
American drummers
American amputees
Amputee musicians
Cyborgs
1990 births
Living people
{{US-musician-stub