New Prosthetic Hand Gives Sense of Touch Released Today by First Class Posting
(PRWEB) February 20, 2014 -- Prosthetic hands, ones that really work, have long been the stuff of science fiction. In fact, so far-flung seemed the idea of an articulate robotic hand that you would see them featured mostly in sci-fi adventure stories like Star Wars, scarcely would they appear in “hard” science fiction and speculative fiction, with Neuromancer’s prosthetics being a notable exception.
In the last decade, however, we’ve seen robotic hands that respond to signals from the muscles in the arm well enough to gracefully pour a glass of beer without ruining the head. We’re still a little ways off from a robotic hand that feels and behaves just like the ones we’re born with, but researchers have just made a tremendous step in that direction with a prosthetic hand that can feel, and send sensations to the brain.
A team of developers at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Italy and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland have created a robotic hand for Dennis Aabo Sørensen that senses friction and then sends it through a computer and into an electrode that signals Sørensen’s nervous system so that he can actually feel what his hand is doing. This allows for more articulate, delicate movement since he has instant feedback, he doesn’t have to look at his hand to know what it’s up to.
“It’s easier than ever to look at the rapidly-evolving world of modern technology and to want to become a Luddite, but it’s more important than ever that we take advantage of this tremendous opportunity to use that tech to change the world for the better,” said expert Jason Hope. “Prosthetics is one area where a few inspired minds can do a lot of good.”
To learn more, please visit: http://www.wwonline.net/new-prosthetic-hand-gives-sense-of-touch/.
Press Room, First Class Posting, http://firstclassposting.com/, +1 (480) 788-7678, [email protected]
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