Clever Artificial Hand Developed

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.'"

Comments

Better pic

[Anonymous Coward]

Image here

Re:Better pic

[Alex P Keaton in da]

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.)

In other news...

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Finally

[dxprog]

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

The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[ReformedExCon]

I imagine something more along the lines of a malleable gel or putty that can form any shape thereby increasing contact surface area and making the grip stronger without increasing the amount of force on the object. It could hold an egg just as easily as an I-beam.

They are looking to mimic humans, but I doubt human form is the most efficient and adaptable. 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.

Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[Anonymous Coward]

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?

Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[lightyear4]

A far better analog to the human hand is located here. The robotics folks over at Shadow really know what they're doing (check the videos). As anyone who checks the Shadow site will see, TFA's "clever artificial hand" does not win the prize for "the first artificially-made opposable thumb." Interesting nevertheless..if only we could see some realworld applications..

Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[patio11]

Aside from your solution being squarely in the realm of science fiction at the moment, while folks need hands now, people with disabilities don't want to screamed at every time they look down that they're something other than human (they get that enough from other people, sad but true). The hand is an assistive technology, true, but the goal should be that it "just works" and does so as unobtrusively as possible, so that it doesn't stick out any more than, say, glasses, contacts, cochlear implants, or hearing aids. Having your hand appear the consistency of frying eggs when attempting to pick up your glass at dinner time does not fulfill this important design goal.

Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[AGMW]

The hand is an assistive technology, true, but the goal should be that it "just works" and does so as unobtrusively as possible, so that it doesn't stick out any more than, say, glasses, contacts, cochlear implants, or hearing aids.

Interesting that you include hearing aids in that list. I've wondered about this for a few years, on and off (I really should get out more), but while glasses have become fashion items, and people with good eyesight will use glasses to help them further (eg sunglasses), you don't see people using hearing aids unless they really have to!

... and what about some sense of fashion for hearing aids? Sure, they are becoming smaller and smaller, but this is just to allow them to be hidden.

I have partial hearing loss and wouldn't even think of using a hearing aid, but anyone with slightly wonky eyes will get themselves some glasses.

How about hearing aids for people with good hearing, for use at the cinema or theatre, that would filter out the dim-wits with their mobile phones and packets of crisps?
How about a device to wear at the Pub which can allow you to filter out the background noise and actually hear, and converse with, your friends?

I reckon there's a long way to go before hearing aids can be mentioned in the same sentence as glasses!

Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[koniosis]

I have partial hearing loss and wouldn't even think of using a hearing aid

I'm sorry that you feel that way, I have a number of friends who require and use hearing aids and no one, I mean NO ONE makes a fuss, people don't point and stare even children don't, perhaps you are more paranoid than you think, give them a try and you'll realise that people don't see it as a "disability" any more than glasses after all. If you are really afraid you can get concealed aids that are very hard to notice unless you look someone directly in ear and pay attention. Like you say people who need glasses where them, equally people who need hearing aids wear them but you'll always get people who deny that they need glasses/aids etc etc. You admit that you require a hearing aid, get out there and stop caring what people think (or don't as the case may be) and you'll be back to a world of full stereo enjoyment :D

Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[ozmanjusri]

... 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...

Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[stuckinarut]

Someone is already thinking about this ...

Deaf charity wants high fashion hearing aids

The Victoria & Albert Museum in London is hosting an exhibition of high-fashion hearing aids, called Hearwear, in a bid to rehabilitate the devices and make them seem more attractive to those who might need them.

Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[bkr1_2k]

Yes there is! Skin changes color constantly, depending upon temperature, sun exposure, health, all kinds of reasons. And it's not one color to begin with, it's a blend of a lot of different shades. Teeth are exposed to the same basic environment all the time. Some minor changes occur, but your teeth don't change color dramatically in short periods of time. It takes years for teeth to actually change color without a helping hand. And then, false teeth are exposed to the same thing and will react the same way, because the acrylics used are similar to the material your teeth are made of. The materials used in hearing aids are nothing remotely like skin.

Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[Doc Ri]

I agree that the best replacement for a lost human hand is probably a human hand. However:

I doubt we're going to come up with a better design than millions of years of natural selection.

I think it is actually easy sometimes. The 'design' of the human eye for instance is crap. No sane engineer would start from a light sensitive sensor, drill a hole through it (thereby creating a blind spot), draw some wires though it and place the readout devices in front of the light sensitive surface (thereby reducing the light sampling ability of the whole device). Octopusses are better off.

Natural selection does not strive for perfection. It works by accumulating small changes. Thus, when you start from a given 'design' only a small subset of all possible 'designs' are in reach.

Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[utexaspunk]

I think it's a matter of time before hearing aids become commonplace. Of course, they won't be called hearing aids- they'll be called wireless ear buds.

I imagine some wireless buds where, by turning the bezel of the watch they come with, you can adjust the mix between outside noise and other sources (phone, music, computer, etc). The watch would also function as a display for various info in addition to the time- Caller ID, song titles, etc.

Of course, the new can of worms this would open would be people recording conversations all the time.

Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[CODiNE]

How about hearing aids for people with good hearing, for use at the cinema or theatre

I'm not sure if you're intentionally leaving them out but most theaters already have little headsets you can borrow for any movie. Some require holding your license til it's over, depends where you are. Also they have to remember to turn on a transmitter upstairs before the movie starts or you'll just get static.

In addition I've heard of two other things but haven't been able to verify anyplace that has them yet. One is a plexiglass plate that hooks into your cupholders and reflects subtitles being displayed somewhere in the back of the room. The other is that apparently any digital theatre can at will turn on subtitles just like a DVD. You have to request it in advance and obviously they don't want everybody knowing about this since it's likely to annoy a lot of folks when every movie they go to starts having this. Heheh... guess I spilled the beans. Sorry. >:-)

Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[weemattisnot]

Rather than having "geek-brain-developed-for-technical-stuff-at-the-c ost-of-everything-else-itis", it's more likely that you have some hearing loss. Perhaps in the high treble area. This would make it difficult to distinguish between certain consonants for example 't' and 'c'. Hearing loss in lower frequencies makes discerning between vowels more difficult. Either way, your brain has to work harder than others to decode language.

I have alot of hearing loss (from a combination of loud noises and as the indirect result of a nasty ear infection (that later madated surgery)), and while I love music and feel that I hear it quite well, I'm actually wrong, and I can't hear it well compared to people with good hearing. Also, I often have to do the 'decoding' thing that you mention.

Hearing loss can be conductive (the bones conducting the sound to your cochlea) or can be more-permanent when hairs inside your cochlea (that vibrate at different resonant frequencies to trigger nerves to send the info to your brain) break due to loud or long duration noise.

I've been told (by my surgeon) that they have found an enzyme that actually repairs the hairs inside the cochlea but haven't found a safe way to get the enzyme into the cochlea without further damaging it. My surgeon also mentioned that experimentation of using viruses to carry the enzyme to the cochlea are taking place (if the experiments go wrong though, I'd hate to have a stomach that can hear ;).

Does anyone know about any of the research that's going on in this area? Or have any (informed) forecasts as to when average-joe-semi-deaf-blokes like myself might be able to opt-in for some miraculous hearing-regenative viral infection?

Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape

[Anonymous Coward]

My daughter was born with one hand. She has adapted physically and there is very little she can not do, and I mean VERY LITTLE. She can jump rope, tie her shoes, ride a bike with gears and handbrakes, type roughly 20 wpm (and probably 40 WPM in teenage chat speak) and probably five 9's percentage of what everone else with two hands can do.
I know parents get a little crazy with their own kids and want everything to be perfect and many would go through anything to get their young baby equiped with an artifical hand so they can be normal. I assume those same parents feel guilty and want to "help" the child in any way they can and make things right. I am glad we did not go that route as we let her develop and learn on her own. People can work with what they have and they learn to use what they have. I have serious doubts that a parent with different ideas would listen to that and I doubt many doctors would be willing to tell a parent that they should not use an artifical hand, which gives the parents a better feeling they are doing the right thing what ever that may be.
On the down side, my daughter is now high school age and is not happy with herself mentally with only one hand. That is hard to deal with. Fake hand or not, that would be a problem.

Just what I'm looking for

[nEoN nOoDlE]

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.

Re:Just what I'm looking for

[Tatarize]

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.

Oh c'mon

[zephc]

"'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!

Re:Oh c'mon

[mattjb0010]

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

You have to hand it to the submitter ;P

in my family...

[Catcher80]

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

Claims Too Strong!

[DrInequality]

This prosthetic hand may be able to mimic the human hand better than any currently available prosthetic hand.

There are plenty of robot hands that are far better than this. e.g. #1 e.g. #2.

Re:Claims Too Strong!

[Anonymous Coward]

This newly designed hand is only 400g unlike the two that you linked to which are 3.5kg and 1.15kg!! I know which one I would choose. I reckon I would look pretty funny walking with a lean and my wiz bang prosthetic knuckles dragging along the ground getting gravel rash :)

a BIG improvement

[romit_icarus]

Hey now i can surf through internet porn while typing with *both* hands!!

sorry, couldnt resist that one... ;)

Very Promising Future of Prosthetics...

[Nerd Systems]

This hand looks very promising... am sure that it will make many amputees happy as it can more closely resemble the human hand... just curious how much longer till the entire human hand can be duplicated totally... much less other body parts...

I wonder how well someone could type with this hand though, am sure that hunting and pecking would work fine, but since this is controlled by the muscles in the arm, not so sure how efficient typing might be with this hand...

One way to accessorize this hand might be to encase it in a skin toned covering, to more realistically mimic a human hand, and at least to not be so ovbious as this hand is...

Overall this looks like a good step forward in prosthetics... soon people who are unfortunate enough to lose a limb, will be able to lead more normal lives... this is wonderful.

Re:Very Promising Future of Prosthetics...

[SimilarityEngine]

It doesn't look like it's nearly up to the task of being the fretting hand

If you need it on the left, maybe you could pre-program it with the correct hand shapes for various chords - 3 should be enough to play some Oasis anyway :-) - and you could get quite far with bar chords too...

How does the user control it?

[Vorondil28]

But the University of Southampton team has designed a prototype that uses six sets of motors and gears so each of the five fingers can move independently.

So you've got a prosthetic hand with fully functioning fingers... How does the user of the hand control six, separate motors?

Re:How does the user control it?

[rkww]

RTFA: The new hand - called the Southampton Remedi-Hand - can be connected to muscles in the arm via a small processing unit and is controlled by small contractions of the muscles which move the wrist.

the biggest challenge...

[ErichTheWebGuy]

The biggest challenge of said "hand" will be the adaptation/grafting onto the human body. It will be difficult to train patients to use the new hand, since it has so many possible individual movements. Maybe a wearable device could mitigate that factor,...

Harder to mitigate, however, is going to be the cost. Trying to get this product to be affordable enough to be used by large quantities of people will be another feat, comparable to the one mentioned in TFA.

Oh come on

[iamdrscience]

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.

opposable thumb

[layer3switch]

The wonder never seizes to amaze me...

The biggest question; as more sophisticate motorized artificial limb gets, more sensitive sensor to control it requires.

If the question above is solved with "clever" routine to detect movement in sync with rest of fingers (ie. gripping torch.. hem or just giving thumbs up or middle finger), I'm assuming most basic movement will be predetermined/predefined according to how the sensor detects the motion or object by means of basic push/pull mechanism from wrist muscle.

If then (and I said "IF"), won't it be more "clever"-er to have prosthetic controlled by nerve?

For example, MES Robotics has pretty nice pictures of future projects regarding similar concept.
http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~matsh/591188/
(oh and yes, the arm does look like something out of Terminator 2 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/)

Call Kevin!

[Beekhuis]

This should thrill Mister http://www.kevinwarwick.com/

Better, Faster, Stronger

[Timberwolf0122]

Building a prosthetic limb is the easy bit in a way, the realy hard work is allowing the user to controll it in a natural way by nerv induction aswell as relay the touch feeling and providing the arm with enough power to last the day.

Ultimately replacement limbs should be better that the originals and this is a fantastic step in the right direction.

the power grip

[gomel]

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

How About An Iarm?

[bait4719]

http://www.iarm.de/movie_high.html

It;s not the hand...

[Sooner Boomer]

It's not the hand, or motor/servo, or interface that needs improving, it's the Power Source ! Without long-lasting (much better than iPod!) batteries, this technology will go nowhere. I did research in prosthetics back in '75 and won quite a few awards and acclaim for the work, but had the same problem. One solution that was presented back then, but not much work has been done on it since, is a blood-powered fuel cell. It is implanted in the body and derives power from sugar and oxygen. Next best thing would be a pee-powered battery (grin).

Shadow's hand *not* for people to wear

[RealisticCanadian]

You really need to pay some attention before spewing forth about other developments.

If you'd actually been paying attention you'd have noticed that the "Shadow Hand" is a prototype for industrial applications and such. Not medicine.

While their products is also sweet, it is NOT something to compare to prosthetics. That puppy comes with a large pneumatic cylinder attached... might make it a *tad* conspicuous out and about.

Nice try tho. :^)

I wonder how its controlled?

[Anonymous Coward]

PalmOS?