Do they? If not, I don't know why the hell someone would get one. If they do... wtf?

Well, the human senses that would apply to a cyberlimb are:
Tactition - the sense of pressure
Thermoception - the sense of temperature
Nociception - the sense of pain
Proprioception - the sense of body position

Modern prosthetic limbs have (at best) a few small areas of tactition and/or thermoception, but zero of the other two. But SR cyberlimbs have DNI, which I'm sure gives them full range (or better) of these four senses (as well as an essence cost). That said, it would seem a trivial modification to put an upper limit or cutoff on the nociception, and I believe there is some old-edition fluff to support this.

Would you care to go into a little more detail about the "wtf?" part of your question?

The "wtf" had to do with the fact that every picture of a cyberlimb I've knowingly seen showed them to be hard and metallic. This doesn't fit with the idea of them having sensation.

So? Why does that prevent them from having small sensors in them to detect that kind of thing?

Pain is an abstracted way of monitoring the damage the limb has taken.
The others are all just sensory feeds.

The fact that the surface is hard, even going so far as to have that surface coated with DiKote [and I can't be the only one here who has done that little trick] would not prevent the inclusion of sensors that duplicate everything found in a natural arm-not with the level of technology in Shadowrun. Also, it would be possible to adjust the feeds so that the level of sensation is caped-preventing agony as result of damage (including shocks and burns).

AFE

I'd say you could edit pain out completely with cyberware.

Yes you could, but that defeats the purpose of pain.

Pain is a good thing to have, it lets you know when things are broken. I would expect the pain to be capped and it would be possible to turn it off, but pain would still be something you WANT to be available as an output in a cyberlimb.

EDIT: You could also have a HUD display for your arm if you had cybereyes or linked it to goggles, which would allow you to remove the pain. This does raise an idea as to why you might have your cyberlimbs as part of your PAN. And what a hacker could to do them.

If you have smartlink, you could have pain replaced by a life bar or something. Life turned into a videogame! You even get extra lives... of a sort.

This couldnt have gone into your do you wish cyber/bio were real thread why exactly?

Because it's a separate question about whether cyberlimbs feel sensation and would have derailed the existing thread.

Because he is Emo Samurai.

He even asked if he could get his named in all caps for god's sake.

Why would you expect rational behaviour from him?

That's EMO SAMURAI to you.

So do we get a can cyberlims come in different colors thread next?

No, because that's obvious. I asked this because cyberlimbs are always these hulking chrome-and-steel monstrosities in the pictures; one could never picture them having sensation.

Its called suspension of disbelief. They wouldnt be very useful if they didnt have sensation.

One of the possibilities for modeling pressure sensitivity in cyberlims would be a thin, pressure sensitive film. The limb itself can be hard, it is the film that provides the pressure information. Just like you canfee pressure when someone presses on your forehead .

It makes sense to have non-obvious ones for social reasons, anyway.

And why would you get a cyberlimb if you weren't an amputee or a street sam?

Self-improvement, fashion statement, quick and easy improvement in your own capabilities, because you really like gadgets, because it lets you do your job better. Not likely to be common choices, but valid reasons.

Yup. A rich corporate lackey with a penchant for racquetball could improve his game, for example.

Hell, I'm playing a character at the moment who's into pushing himself as far as he can go towards the limits of human performance. That definitely involves cyber.

Remember that since nanotech is getting more common in 2070, you could also use nanites on your arm for sensors to recieve that information. Ares was doing it in 64 for security systems.

For a few ideas on how it all works, read the end of 2XS, where , not to ruin the story for you, someone gets a cyberarm and can't feel it, has absolutely no control over it, and just sits there looking at it, until someone turns it on. Gets the whole pins and needles feeling for a sec, then can feel the arm just like normal.

Also try the 2nd edition Cybertechnology book (which I love). The section of Hatchetman's reviewing what cyber he's added over the years, and having some issue with phantom limb syndrome. He'll fell his arm in one postion, look over, and it's sitting differently, jsut because he's not paying attention to it, and it relates differently than his meat arm did. Had some issue with dissasoctiation because of cyber eyes coming through with a weird, video like resolution. Good stuff.

I also remember something about waking up in the morning and being very aware of having cybereyes, because of the weight and slightly lower temperature of them sitting in you sockets.
Creepy.
Me want!

p.s. a cool cyberpunk site with damn fine pictures of cyberlimbs -
http://datafortress2020.110mb.com/ab/cyberlimbs.html

That was Hatchetman's story in cybertechnology.

YES!! If you want to know all about the human perspective side of having cyberware, you absolutely need to buy and read Cybertechnology, cover to cover. (Ignoring the rules sections if you like, I mean read the fiction.)

Sensation? Mine are ribbed for her pleasure!



Seriously, a lot of sensory info can be done with today's technology, and dosen't require any special high-tech artificial "skin".

Touch information can be aquired from simply measuring the amount of load on the various servos in the arm. Granted, this is only basic contact information, but it's enough to let someone know when they're touching something.

For finer detail, pressure sensors can be put underneath contact surfaces.

Thermal sensors are really tiny nowadays. Like the size of a pinhead.

Pain sensors are a bit more involved. To be useful as a damage indicator, you'd have to have break sensors over most of the structure of the arm. Probably can be done, though. Even a metallic polymer film lining the inside of the exterior plating can be used to detect damage - a break will change the electrical capacitance of the film.

And that's just today. I imagine 50 years of tech development will result in much better sensors, even for completely artificial arms.

Body position would be the most difficult, as we still don't entirely understand how the body registers body position yet.


-karma