Before Fabrizio touched one of the researchers who had fitted him with the new prosthetic hand, he had no idea what to anticipate from it.
Fabrizio, an Italian man 57 years old, claimed to be able to feel the warmth of another person with his phantom hand when one of the researchers placed the sensor on his own body. “It was like rekindling a connection with someone; it was a very strong emotion for me.” According to a paper published on February 9 in the journal Med, Fabrizio, who lost his hand 37 years ago, was able to feel that sensation because of advanced sensors that were implanted in the prosthetic hand.
The wearer receives accurate and timely thermal feedback from those sensors. Fabrizio was able to distinguish between and physically sort things of various temperatures using his hands. Fabrizio’s last name was not provided by the researchers. According to the researchers, this is the first instance of a working artificial limb incorporating a natural sense of temperature.
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New Prosthetic Hand
One of the remaining areas to be explored in order to give robotic hands a feeling again is temperature. Professor of biorobotics research at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy, Silvestro Micera, co-senior study author, stated, “For the first time, we’re really close to restoring the full palette of sensations to amputees.”
New Prosthetic Hand
The researchers observed that patients can regain their sense of warmth without undergoing surgery by using the “MiniTouch” device, which utilizes readily available electronics. “This is a very simple idea that can be easily integrated into commercial prostheses,” Micera said in a university news release. For the study, researchers linked the device to a point on Fabrizio’s remaining forearm that caused him to experience thermal sensations from a phantom index finger.
New Prosthetic Hand
Using the MiniTouch, Fabrizio was able to discriminate with perfect accuracy between bottles containing water that was 53 degrees (cold), 75 degrees (cool) and 104 degrees Fahrenheit (hot), as the results show. Without the device, Fabrizio’s accuracy fell to just 33%. Fabrizio was also able to differentiate while blindfolded between human and prosthetic arms with 80% accuracy, thanks to the sensation of warmth provided by the MiniTouch. Without the device, his accuracy fell to 60%.
New Prosthetic Hand
Fabrizio was able to distinguish between and physically sort things of various temperatures using his hands. Fabrizio’s last name was not provided by the researchers. According to the researchers, this is the first instance of a working artificial limb incorporating a natural sense of temperature. One of the remaining areas to be explored in order to give robotic hands a feeling again is temperature. Professor of biorobotics research at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy, Silvestro Micera, co-senior study author, stated, “For the first time, we’re really close to restoring the full palette of sensations to amputees.”
New Prosthetic Hand
The researchers observed that patients can regain their sense of warmth without undergoing surgery by using the “MiniTouch” device, which utilizes readily available electronics. “Our goal now is to develop a multimodal system that integrates touch, proprioception [sense of self-movement] and temperature sensations,” Shokur added. “With that type of system, people will be able to tell you, ‘this is soft and hot,’ or ‘this is hard and cold.’”
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images source: Google
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