i-LIMB Handâ„¢: Bionic Hands with Five Motorized Fingers

Filed in archive Diagnostics, Methodologies and Instrumentation , Other Biotechnology News on July 21, 2007

At the 12th congress of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics in Vancouver, the new high-tech bionic hand with five motorized fingers, invented in Scotland, will be unveiled.

Amputees have been fitted with artificial hands that use a thumb and two fingers to produce a simple claw grip. Now with the invention of i-LIMB Handâ„¢, patients can control the five digits separately using tiny muscle movements picked up by electrodes attached to the forearm.

Those wearing the devices can do pretty much anything they could do before they lost their hands - from typing to peeling a banana to turning a key in a lock to eating with a knife and a fork, designers said.
One British man and 13 amputees in the United States have been fitted with the device during trials.

The i-LIMB system was developed by Touch Bionics.

Want to see the i-LIMB Handâ„¢ in action? Click here.

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