October 30, 2016
To Whom It May Concern,
I am honored to write this letter of support for Jan Scheuermann to speak of her experiences as a
quadriplegic participant in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Revolutionizing
Prosthetics Program (RP). Jan is captivating and inspiring as she describes her story as "the ride of my
life." But first, I will set the stage with a brief description of the innovative RP program.
Initiated in 2006, the ambitious goal of RP was to enable individuals to use only their thoughts to control
a prosthetic arm. A brain interface would link their thoughts and the resultant action. Motivated by the
compelling need to help military personnel who had lost use of their arm due to amputation or
neurological injury, a major goal was to develop prosthetics that embody the naturalness of a human limb.
The fundamental question was – can a person's thoughts to control a human-like prosthetic? Beyond this,
we were eager to know how a person would react to this type of capability. Hollywood has produced
many shows that explore this subject: The Six Million Dollar Man, Star Wars, I Robot, The Matrix and
RoboCop. Our goal was to see if we could move from Hollywood fiction to reality.
By 2011, we had developed the capability. The Modular Prosthetic Limb (MPL) is the most sophisticated
robotic arm in the world (https://youtu.be/DjzA9b9T3d8). The RP team developed electrodes that could
be implanted into the brain to measure electrical impulses associated with thought and the algorithms to
decode those thoughts. Ultimately, we received FDA approval to work with a human volunteer.
What we needed was a pioneer: someone who wanted to be first: someone who wanted to open up a new
world to those with paralysis. Jan Scheuerman was that pioneer, and on November 28, 2014, at the
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, she achieved her personal goal: she fed herself a chocolate
candy bar (https://youtube/WV0bJkk86pw). Over the next several years, Jan went on to perform a number
of other “firsts,” including flying a flight simulator!
In September 2016, we invited Jan to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL) to talk
about her experiences. She mesmerized the audience with a touching, sometimes-humorous description of her journey as the first person to use a brain computer interface to control a sophisticated, human-like
robotic arm. Jan gave the most enthusiastically received talk I have seen in my 25+ years at APL.
Afterwards, a number of my colleagues remarked that, of all the things that APL has done, this is the
accomplishment of which they are most proud.
I believe that you will find her talk engaging and inspirational, and I recommend her without reservation.
Sincerely,
Michael P. McLoughlin
Principal Investigator, Revolutionizing Prosthetics
Chief Engineer, Research and Exploratory Development
The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Mike.mcloughlin@jhuapl.edu
443-545-6047
To Whom It May Concern,
I am honored to write this letter of support for Jan Scheuermann to speak of her experiences as a
quadriplegic participant in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Revolutionizing
Prosthetics Program (RP). Jan is captivating and inspiring as she describes her story as "the ride of my
life." But first, I will set the stage with a brief description of the innovative RP program.
Initiated in 2006, the ambitious goal of RP was to enable individuals to use only their thoughts to control
a prosthetic arm. A brain interface would link their thoughts and the resultant action. Motivated by the
compelling need to help military personnel who had lost use of their arm due to amputation or
neurological injury, a major goal was to develop prosthetics that embody the naturalness of a human limb.
The fundamental question was – can a person's thoughts to control a human-like prosthetic? Beyond this,
we were eager to know how a person would react to this type of capability. Hollywood has produced
many shows that explore this subject: The Six Million Dollar Man, Star Wars, I Robot, The Matrix and
RoboCop. Our goal was to see if we could move from Hollywood fiction to reality.
By 2011, we had developed the capability. The Modular Prosthetic Limb (MPL) is the most sophisticated
robotic arm in the world (https://youtu.be/DjzA9b9T3d8). The RP team developed electrodes that could
be implanted into the brain to measure electrical impulses associated with thought and the algorithms to
decode those thoughts. Ultimately, we received FDA approval to work with a human volunteer.
What we needed was a pioneer: someone who wanted to be first: someone who wanted to open up a new
world to those with paralysis. Jan Scheuerman was that pioneer, and on November 28, 2014, at the
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, she achieved her personal goal: she fed herself a chocolate
candy bar (https://youtube/WV0bJkk86pw). Over the next several years, Jan went on to perform a number
of other “firsts,” including flying a flight simulator!
In September 2016, we invited Jan to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL) to talk
about her experiences. She mesmerized the audience with a touching, sometimes-humorous description of her journey as the first person to use a brain computer interface to control a sophisticated, human-like
robotic arm. Jan gave the most enthusiastically received talk I have seen in my 25+ years at APL.
Afterwards, a number of my colleagues remarked that, of all the things that APL has done, this is the
accomplishment of which they are most proud.
I believe that you will find her talk engaging and inspirational, and I recommend her without reservation.
Sincerely,
Michael P. McLoughlin
Principal Investigator, Revolutionizing Prosthetics
Chief Engineer, Research and Exploratory Development
The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Mike.mcloughlin@jhuapl.edu
443-545-6047
