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Clever Artificial Hand Developed

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the sound-of-one-hand-closing dept.

AccUser writes "The BBC is reporting that scientists have developed an ultra-light limb that they claim can mimic the movement in a real hand better than any currently available. Researcher Dr Paul Chappell, a medical physicist who worked on the device, said, 'With this hand you can clutch objects such as a ball, you can move the thumb out to one side and grip objects with the index finger in the way you do when opening a lock with a key, and you can wrap your fingers around an object in what we call the power grip - like the one you use when you hold a hammer or a microphone.'"

20 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Better pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Image here

    1. Re:Better pic by Vorondil28 · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yeah, but that isn't holding a can of "Healthy Beans."

      --
      This sig rocks the casbah.
    2. Re:Better pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      perhaps the beans weren't so healthy after all?

    3. Re:Better pic by Alex+P+Keaton+in+da · · Score: 4, Funny

      It gives new meaning to "the stranger"
      Rimshot
      (The stranger is a masturbation tecnique whereby a male sits on his hand until it goes numb, at which point he can use the numb hand to stroke his willy, thereby recieveing tactile sensations on the male member, but not on the hand.)

      --
      And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
  2. But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    ...does it run Linux?

  3. In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dr Paul is now Dr Pauline after some over-enthusiastic power grip testing...

  4. Finally by dxprog · · Score: 5, Funny

    For those of you who have had their hands severed by their father, relief has come!

    --
    DxBlog - It's where you want to be
  5. Just what I'm looking for by nEoN+nOoDlE · · Score: 4, Funny

    and you can wrap your fingers around an object in what we call the power grip - like the one you use when you hold a hammer or a microphone.

    Well, that's the only criteria I'm looking for in an artificial hand... I do a lot of... you know... karaoke.

    --
    Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
    1. Re:Just what I'm looking for by Tatarize · · Score: 4, Funny

      You know, with todays technology it shouldn't be too hard to build in some "force feedback". You'd be a hit with the ladies as well. Hell it would be a great pickup line.

      You wave to her in a bar.
      Your hand suddenly starts vibrating at a few thousand rpm. Don't even have to say a word.

      Sure anybody could give a backrub, but how many people could give a backrub at several thousand rpm.

      --

      It is no longer uncommon to be uncommon.
  6. Oh c'mon by zephc · · Score: 4, Funny

    "'With this hand you can clutch objects such as a ball, [...] and you can wrap your fingers around an object in what we call the power grip"

    Oh c'mon You're making the jokes too easy for us!

    --
    "I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
    1. Re:Oh c'mon by mattjb0010 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh c'mon You're making the jokes too easy for us!

      You have to hand it to the submitter ;P

  7. in my family... by Catcher80 · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...we'll use it to grip our beer better and flip each other off more realistically!

    --
    I sell out to The Man every day.
  8. a BIG improvement by romit_icarus · · Score: 2, Funny
    Hey now i can surf through internet porn while typing with *both* hands!!

    sorry, couldnt resist that one... ;)

  9. Oh come on by iamdrscience · · Score: 4, Funny

    Isn't this old news? Luke had one of these by the end of Empire and that came out in 1980!

    Furthermore, the events depicted in star wars happened "A long time ago" so they must be even older than that.

  10. Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    A blob-like form consisting of millions of nanobots working together, sometimes loosely, sometimes in a tight lattice, would make much more sense as it could take on any form and be solid or "liquid" at any given time.

    Wouldn't it be better to just give the patients mutant psychokinetic powers so they can levitate objects wherever they want? Oh I'm sorry, were you talking about things which can *actually* be achieved in the forseeable future?

  11. I call prior art prior art. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The Addam's family, er, obviously invented the ultimate "artificial limb" years ago.......

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thing_(Addams_Family)

  12. Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape by ozmanjusri · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... and what about some sense of fashion for hearing aids?

    You could make some with white ear buds, connect them to a white amplifier box with a circle on the front, and you'd be as flash as a rat with a gold tooth...

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  13. the power grip by gomel · · Score: 5, Funny

    'The power grip will be mostly used to crush human sculls.' Dr Paul Chappell added.

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  14. Clever Artificial Hand? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Sounds like a Realdoll for Slashdotters!

    *ducks*

  15. I wonder how its controlled? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    PalmOS?