A Robotic Hand With Feelings

The researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, have found a way to implant sensations in prosthetics (artificial body parts). This advancement has led to amazing results in Dennis Aabo Sorensen’s life, a Dutchman who lost his hand nine years ago in a fireworks accident. He is now able to feel different kinds of pressure on three fingers of a prosthetic robotic hand.

The work involved a new kind of implanted device that delivers feedback directly to the remaining nerves in the man’s arm. The implant was left in place for 31days, allowing the man to feel graduations of touch pressure, depending on the amount of electrical stimulus delivered.

“It was quite amazing, because suddenly I was able to feel something I hadn't been feeling for nine years” the Dutchman said in a video provided by the Swiss institute. “I could feel round things and hard things and soft things. The feedback was totally new to me. Suddenly, when I was doing movements, I could feel what I was doing, instead of looking at what I was doing.”

To achieve their result, the Swiss researchers inserted electrodes in two of the three major arm nerves: the ulnar and median. Forces detected on the fingertips of an artificial hand are translated into electrical stimuli delivered to electrodes. Stimulation in the ulnar nerve produced sensations in the man’s pinky, while stimulation in the median produced sensations in the index finger and thumb.

Jack Judy, director of the Nanoscience Institute for Medical and Engineering Technologies at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and a former U.S. Defense Research Projects Agency program manager working on neural interfaces, says “The results look good in the short run, the real  concern is the long term stability”, he added  “When the long-term performance of the new neural interface is established, this novel alternative approach could significantly improve the quality of life of amputees”