An Italian man is set to receive the first bionic hand that can actually feel the true sensation of touch. Over the last few years, prosthetic limb technology advanced remarkably; not only in biomechanics and movement, but also in that they have developed sensory perception, by using mainly the preexisting circuitry of the human nervous system.
Silvestro Micera of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland says that the subject, who lost his hand in an accident, will be the first recipient of the bionic hand and if all goes well in two years, full working models will be ready to test on other patients. In the meantime, Micera is happy with the results, as the bionic hand can currently feel things such as the sensation of grasping an object and needle pricks.
Lead researcher Micera presented the new technology last week at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston. The findings were based on an initial four-week test period done in 2009 with another subject, 26-year old Pierpaolo Petruzziello, who lost his arm in a car accident. During that test, electrodes were implanted into the median and ulnar nerves, and connected by wires to a prosthetic hand on a nearby table. The subject could not only feel certain sensations, but could control mobility as well.
Whereas the previous model of the bionic hand only had two sensory zones, the new prototype can feel sensations on all fingertips.
Before moving forward, Micera still needs to see how the body will react. The big questions being, will the subcutaneous wires be rejected, and will the prosthetic need to be removed for temporary breaks or can it essentially become, a permanent fixture? The team is also said to be searching for the best way to hide all the wiring — they built a bionic hand, something tells me they’ll figure out a way to hide some wires.
