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Oct 23, 2009 11:12 am US/Central
Scientists Breakthrough With Sensory Prosthetic
BOSTON (CBS) ―
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The Smarthand is a new prosthetic limb dotted with 40 sensors that stimulate nerves in the arm and shoot touch signals back into the brain instantaneously.
WBZ
There is a breakthrough for people who've lost limbs. Swedish scientists say they've developed a robotic hand that can actually sense touch, reports CBS station WBZ-TV.
Amputee Robin af Ekenstam can pick up a water bottle without dropping or crushing it. He gives it just the right amount of pressure because for the first time in years, he can actually FEEL the bottle. "It's a feeling I have not had for a long time," he says.
Robin is the first to try out what's called the Smarthand, a new prosthetic limb dotted with 40 sensors that stimulate nerves in the arm and shoot touch signals back into the brain instantaneously.
Dr. Jeffrey Heckman of New York University's Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine says the technology is unparalleled at this point. The prosthetic hands available now allow patients to perform many tasks but the Smarthand is the first to offer movement control that only comes through feeling.
Dr. Heckman says patients still have to train their arm muscles to move the Smarthand's motors, but for the more than 900 veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars who've lost limbs to roadside bombs, the technology could be life changing. "It could allow a patient who's married who'd like to hold their spouse's hand again," explains Dr. Heckman. "It could allow someone who could pick up their son and feel that they are holding on."
Scientists call this the "magic touch," the "holy grail" of prosthetics. For Robin, it's a feeling he's missed for a long time, and he's happy to have it back.
Scientists are now working to make the Smarthand's electronics more streamlined and hope to have it on the market within two years.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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