iLimb Prosthetic Hand offers fully articulating, high precision prosthetic to amputees

iLimb Prosthetic Hand offers fully articulating, high precision prosthetic to amputees

In the Star Wars Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker has his hand sliced off by the evil Darth Vader just before Luke finds that Darth Vader is actually his father. Luke narrowly escapes and is shown receiving a prosthetic hand that almost perfectly mimic the functionality of a real hand. For a long time a hand this advance was merely the stuff of science fiction. Recently however huge strides have been taken to make this technology a reality. One of the foremost examples of these advanced prosthetics is the i-Limb ultra developed by touch bionics.  The realism of this prosthetic as well as the dexterity and range of motion are astounding. The prosthetic is capable of holding and manipulating delicate objects and performing very fine motor control. Signals for the device are derived from neuro impulses in the remaining stump of the amputee. A computer interprets these signals and transforms them into instructions for the motors in the hand. Learning how to use the hand takes a lot of practice and instruction but once mastered enables the wearer to perform an incredible range of motions almost identical to a real hand. The company has also developed silicon based covering that match the color and texture of real skin so well that when given only a cursory glance it is difficult to tell whether a limb is real or a prosthetic. This prosthetic stands to drastically improve the quality of life of amputees. Unfortunately technology this advanced does not come cheaply. A new i-Limb prosthetic runs about $18,000 which though not cheap is well worth the price for the degree of freedom it offers to patients who can afford it. The biggest current limitation is that communication is only one way. The device can receive and process signals from the brain but has no way of sending information back. Without any feedback, there is no sensation of touch nor feeling of pressure when an object is grasped. The i-Limb is an incredible advance in prosthetic technology that enables an amputee to regain use of an almost lifelike artificial hand. An article about the i-Limb can be found here: http://singularityhub.com/2009/03/26/i-limb-revolutionizes-the-commercial-prosthetic/