Tech & Biz

Thumbs-Up for Breakthrough Bionic Hand

by Jordan Yerman | July 18, 2007 at 09:08 am

458 views | 20 Recommendations | 1 comment

Update: AP has a little story about a vet's usage of this incredibly sci-fi prosthetic:

Iraq war veteran Sgt. Juan Arredondo can grasp tennis balls and door knobs with his left hand again, now that he's been outfitted with a bionic hand that has flexible fingers.

27-year-old former soldier, who lost his left hand in 2005 during a patrol, is one of the first recipients of the i-LIMB.

"To have this movement, it's -- it's amazing," Arredondo said Monday as he showed off the limb made by Scotland-based Touch Bionics. "It just gets me more excited about now, about the future."

The prosthetic hand is made of semi-translucent plastics.

Five individual motors power the fingers, allowing the person to grasp round objects. The hand's gestures are made possible through electrode plates that detect electrical signals generated in the remaining muscles in the amputated limb.

A finely-articulate bionic hand, invented by National Health Service worker David Gow, has hit the market. Like something out of a sci-fi film, the hand is informed by the user's brain, and is capable of high-precision movement and small-object manipulation.

The thumb and fingers can move and grip just like a human hand and are controlled by the patient's mind and muscles.

It was invented by David Gow and was designed and built by Touch Bionics, which is based in Livingston.

The technology has been tested by a number of people, including US soldiers who lost limbs in the Iraq war.

Mr Gow, who is the director of rehabilitation engineering services at NHS Lothian, told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "It's the first hand to come to the market that's actually had bending fingers just like your own hand."
[...]

Juan Arredondo, from Texas, who lost his hand in Iraq in 2004, has also been fitted with one of the hands.

"Every day I have the hand, it surprises me," he said.

"Now I can pick up a Styrofoam cup without crushing it. With my other hand, I would really have to concentrate on how much pressure I was putting on the cup."