AI Prosthetic Arm Speed Shapes Sense of Body Ownership in VR

Finding the "Goldilocks" Speed for AI-Powered Artificial Limbs

New research reveals that for an AI-powered robotic arm to feel like part of your own body, it has to move at a very specific, human-like speed.

How much can an autonomous robotic arm feel like part of the body

When a person loses a hand or arm, prosthetic limbs are essential technologies for maintaining everyday function. To date, much prosthetics research has focused on control methods that enable the device to move according to the user’s intention, often by using biosignals such as electromyography (EMG) and electroencephalography (EEG), and on improving the accuracy of such control. Meanwhile, advances in machine learning and AI are making it incr…

AI prosthetic arm speed shapes sense of body ownership in VR

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 16, 2026 When prosthetic limbs move on their own, they promise powerful assistance but can also feel alien to the person using them. Researchers at Toyohashi University of Technology have now shown that the speed of an autonomous prosthetic arm critically shapes how strongly it is experienced as part of the body, as well as how usable and socially acceptable it seems when tested in virtual reality.

Prosthetic arm blurs the line between machine and human body

A virtual forearm can bend in a blink. It can also take its time, easing toward a target as if it is thinking about the move. In a new virtual reality study, both extremes felt wrong. When a prosthetic arm moves on its own, speed turns out to be more than a performance setting. It can shape whether the arm feels like it belongs to you, whether you feel any control over it, whether you would want to use it, and even whether the “robot” comes acro…