WASHINGTON — The first time Claudia Mitchell peeled a banana one-handed, she cried. It was several months after she lost her left arm at the shoulder in a motorcycle accident. She used her feet to hold the banana and peeled it with her right hand. She felt like a monkey.

“It was not a good day,” Mitchell, 26, recalled this week. “Although I accomplished the mission, emotionally it was something to be reckoned with.”

Now, Mitchell can peel a banana in a less simian posture. All she has to do is place her prosthetic left arm next to the banana and think about grabbing it. The mechanical hand closes around the fruit and she’s ready to peel.