Igor Spetic was blindfolded in the test as he moved his prosthetic hand across a table as he attempted to pick up cubes about the size of walnuts. But he could not feel the cubes because he was working with the artificial hand to which he had been fitted. However, when engineers turned on a…
Prosthetic limbs have long been clunky, acting more as appendages than extensions. But modern technology is now helping amputees rediscover their sense of touch. Miles O’Brien, who lost his own arm in an accident last year, takes a look at new advances in the field. Watch the video on PBS.org
Case Western Reserve University researchers who helped restore a sense of touch to amputees in a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs lab in Cleveland are finalizing contract negotiations for a $4.4 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to speed development of a mobile system amputees can use anywhere. Read the full…
Veterans with prosthetic hands could someday regain their sense of touch thanks to a new DARPA initiative. It’s called the Hand Proprioception and Touch Interfaces (HAPTIX) program, and the goal is to let amputees “feel” objects with technology that would send signals back and forth between the brain and artificial hand. Read the full article