Bionic hand gives amputee a sense of touch

Описание: Scientists in Europe have created a bionic hand that gives amputees a sense of touch in their fingers, opening up new possibilities for people with artificial limbs.
Sohn Jung-in has more. Dennis Sorensen lost his left hand in a firework accident 10 years ago.
After that, he though he would never be able to feel anything with that hand again.
But thanks to a revolutionary prosthetic device, he has become the first person to regain his sense of touch, after being given a bionic hand.
In laboratory tests, Sorensen could grasp objects, feel their weight and tell their shape and stiffness, even when he was blindfolded.



The team of international robotic experts from Italy, Switzerland and Germany who carried out the project, are enthusiastic about the results.

"The hand has several sensors attached to each tendon of each finger and we can use these sensors to understand the level of force the patient was performing while grasping an object and we use this force information to deliver very precise stimulation to the various sensory nerves in

order to restore this real time sensory feeling into the nervous system."

Ultra-thin electrodes were surgically implanted into nerves in Sorensen's upper arm.
The bionic hand was then connected to the electrodes every day for a week, forming an electrical connection between the prosthetic and his brain.
The international research team says the bionic hand is still a prototype and they are now working on how to miniaturize and fine-tune the sensory technology so that it can eventually become available to the general public.
The details on the research project were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine on Wednesday.
Sohn Jung-in, Arirang News.