First Bionic Hand with Feeling

An international team of researchers has created a bionic hand that allows the wearer to feel lifelike sensations and could see huge improvements for people with disabilities.

The hand was tested by 35 year old Dennis Aabo, who lost his left hand in a firework accident ten years ago, during a month long clinical trial.  It was connected to nerves in his upper arm during surgery in Italy and has been hailed as a huge success.  With the aid of his new hand, Dennis could pick up various objects and recognise the shape and structure of them, even without seeing them.

Touch Sensation

Professor Silvestro Micera, a neuro-engineer working on the projects says: “It’s the first time that an amputee has had real-time touch sensation from a prosthetic device.”

Although bionic limbs are not a brand new development, the technology behind Dennis’s new hand is a huge step forward in medicine, towards improving the lives of people withdisabilities.  The software involved is state-of-the-art and has never been used successfully before to allow an amputee to be able to feel again through their prosthetic.

Professor Micera and his team of scientists developed sensors for the hand that can measure information about touch.  This is then translated into electrical signals that the user’s nerves can understand.

Dennis spent a month undergoing tests to make sure that the hand was functioning properly and that it was working in the way it was supposed to with his brain.  He says: “The biggest difference was when I grabbed something I could feel what I was doing without having to look.  It was intuitive to use and incredible to be able to feel whether objects were soft or hard, square or round.”

Clinical Trial

Due to restrictions on clinical trials, Dennis had to have the hand removed at the end of the month long period.  The team remains enthusiastic for what it could mean for amputees and other people in the future.

They’re currently working on a way to make all of the technology and wiring involved implantable and smaller, creating a more realistic long term option for prosthetic wearers.

Doctor Alistair Richie, a UK lecturer in bioengineering comments: “This is very interesting work, taking research in upper limb prosthetics into the next stage.  Using sensory feedback is paving the way for future devices that could detect texture and temperature and help people with disabilities.”