From RoboCop to Reality:The New Artificial Hand

The design of prosthetics is one of the oldest and most investigated topics related to biomedical engineering. There is historical evidence that humans were designing artificial body parts nearly two thousand years ago. Of course, back then, the parts were not as complex as they are today. Because the idea of prosthetics has been around for such a long time, it might seem logical that this field has reached a point where we are able to create prosthetics which are actually better than the parts that they replace. While bioengineers are not quite there yet, we are awfully close. At the current rate we are going, this is certainly within the realm of possibility, even within our lifetime.

Europe is one of the 'it' places when it comes to biomedical engineering. It seems that a large proportion of innovations in bioengineering emerge from Europe. Right now, there is much excitement there, as researchers in Sweden have come up with a working prototype of an artificial hand. This may not seem like a big deal, since we have had many types of artificial hands come up in the past. However, this one is different. The main difference is that besides mimicking the mechanics of the real hand, the user of this hand is also able to feel and touch when using this device. This is done by using 4 separate motors along with 40 pressure sensors.

The prototype has already been tested on a man who needed to have his hand amputated due to cancer. After the amputation, he had been using a hook-like prosthetic in lieu of his real hand, which was obviously far less effective than his real hand had been. However, with this new 'Smarthand', he is able to not only mechanically manipulate objects, but because of the pressure sensors which send signals to the brain, he is able to experience tactile sensations.

This topic is relevant to me because of my interest in the biomechanical side of biomedical engineering. The idea of a man-made hand, which can work past just the mechanical level is something that fascinates me. To elaborate further, one of my favorite movies growing up was “RoboCop”. In this film, the main character was a cyborg cop, who actually had body parts similar to the hand described in this article. The devices which were totally fiction back in the late 1980s are reality today. On a more serious note, One of my uncles suffered a stroke nearly six years ago, and is still unable to completely use one of his hands. The research that has been done in order to develop the 'Smarthand' could possibly be used in situations like the one my uncle currently faces.

Link:http://www.euronews.net/2009/09/22/the-magic-touch/
Image from:http://www.elmat.lth.se/~smarthand/smart_baby.html
Blesson John
VTPP 434-502