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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.'"

25 of 195 comments (clear)

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

    Image here

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

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

  3. 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
  4. The hand is not the optimal holding shape by ReformedExCon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

    --
    Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
    1. 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?

    2. Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape by lightyear4 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      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..

    3. Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape by patio11 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
    4. Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape by AGMW · · Score: 4, Interesting
      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!

      --
      Eclectic beats from Leeds, UK
      handmadehands.co.uk
    5. Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape by koniosis · · Score: 4, Insightful
      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
      --
      I spent ages trying to think of sig, but never did :(
    6. 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."
    7. Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape by stuckinarut · · Score: 3, Interesting

      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.

    8. Re:The hand is not the optimal holding shape by bkr1_2k · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

      --
      "Growing old is inevitable; growing up is optional."
  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. Claims Too Strong! by DrInequality · · Score: 4, Insightful
    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.

    --
    DROS - Open-Source Robot Software
    1. Re:Claims Too Strong! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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 :)

  8. Very Promising Future of Prosthetics... by Nerd+Systems · · Score: 4, Interesting
    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.

    --
    Need a Nerd?
    Nerd Systems
  9. the biggest challenge... by ErichTheWebGuy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    --
    bash: rtfm: command not found
  10. 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.

  11. Re:How does the user control it? by rkww · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  12. 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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  13. It;s not the hand... by Sooner+Boomer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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).

    --
    Chaos maximizes locally around me.