Bionic Hands to Become a Reality Soon?

Spy der Mann writes "A highly dexterous, bio-inspired artificial hand and sensory system that could provide patients with active feeling, is being developed by a European project called cyberhand. The final prototype includes sensors for tension, force, joint angle, end stroke and contact."

Comments

In other news . . .

[PIPBoy3000]

Steve Austin, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Vader all sue for patent infringement.

Re:In other news . . .

[Spudley]

Feel the force, Luke! ... and the tension, and the contact, ....

Re:In other news . . .

[Spudley]

By the way, does anyone else think it's ironic that the advert showing on this article is for light sabres? :-D

Re:In other news . . .

[everphilski]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

-everphilski-

Re:In other news . . .

[Paul Slocum]

If anyone is going to enforce the patent, it's this man.

Switch-Off-On-Demand

[fembots]

It'll be great if the sensors on these bionic hands can be switched on and off at the user's will.

This way, the users can grab burning lottery ticket out of a fire place.

Re:Switch-Off-On-Demand

[Rude Turnip]

For a moment there, I thought you were going for a reference to "the Stranger."

Re:Switch-Off-On-Demand

[c_forq]

Until it needs to feed, and starts stealing old peoples medicine with its super strength, I better go stock up on Old Glory Insurance.

P.S. If anyone has a link to that SNL commercial, or a transcript, that would be great as I assume many mods here will have no idea what I am referring to.

Hands check!

[cosinezero]

Finally, a return to two-handed typing...

Re:Hands check!

[dgatwood]

I could use a third hand on many occasions. Imagine being able to hold a soldering gun, the object to be soldered, and the solder all at the same time.... On occasion, a fourth would be handy (no pun intended) when soldering two things together.

I probably grumble about wanting a third arm/hand at least twice a week. Of course, I would assume that at least right now, this just ties into the existing nervous system in your arm, which would make it less than useful for adding an additional appendage. That said, it's only a matter of time.

Don't say I didn't warn ya!

[sarlos]

Next time you're out and about and some guy named Biff smacks you with a bionic arm implant, don't say Sarlos didn't warn you.

Who needs a hand ?

[Arthur B.]

Just make a mouse or a keyboard... I'd trade a hand for a direct link to a computer.

Stupid groping jokes

[southpolesammy]

"You're on in 5...4...3..."

Bionics ,Cybernetics and Faulty Software?

[RealisticCanadian]

So, while this stuff is very kewl, and in particular I've been following development on artificial hands (as far as I know, only the face is more complex), it raises in me the question of what it will bring with it in the near future....

Cybernetic implants are under development as well, including the borg-like communications chip that most of us would have seen on 'How William Shatner changed the Universe'

So on top of all the typical moral concerns this subject raises, in the days when we're as much technology as human being, what will be the complications when our complex implants' OS gives us the equivalent of the BSOD?

Re:Bionics ,Cybernetics and Faulty Software?

[Frumious Wombat]

If you watch Dr. Strangelove , I believe you'll get a pretty good picture of what happens during a BSOD. You don't need the whole movie, just the scenes in the War Room as Dr. Strangelove describes the Doomsday Device.

As for what a Borg BSOD looks like, I haven't the foggiest. If we're lucky, it'll be like a Greatful Dead Concert (lots of people staring and going "oh wow"), but without the scent of Patchouli oil in the air.

Re:Bionics ,Cybernetics and Faulty Software?

[Dread_ed]

"So on top of all the typical moral concerns this subject raises"

I don't have any moral concerns about this technology or others like it. All I feel when I see research like this is hope.

Growing up I watched my father struggle with activities that most of us take for granted. I am not just referring to walking and picking things up, but breathing and being able to get out of bed to see his children growing up. You see, he was in the last wave of people who had Polio before the vaccine was developed and released. He had a pretty bad case (iron lung, coma for about a year) and had to live with permanent physical deformities and constant pain.

So, whether it is a hand for someone who has lost theirs, sensory enchancement for someone with nerve damage, or a neural implant for someone with a head injury, I am all for it. People should not have to suffer if applied science and medicine can overcome it. If I have a moral concern it is that we need to develop this technology (and others in the same ilk) as fast as possible and we are not doing it.

In my opinion this is where medicine needs to go. This kind of research should take it's place with cancer and pathogen research when it comes to funding and effort invested. What good is all this cancer research if you are so tired of living that you are begging to die when you finally do get it?

Best of What's New 2005

[aborlancop1]

According to Popular Science, there's already a mind-controlled bionic arm out. It allows for better movement than previous prosthetic limbs as well.

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/bown2005/personalheal th/19e6ee82ea447010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

"Welcome to the future of prosthetic limbs: true mind control. For the first time ever, an amputee need only think about a movement--picking up a glass, for instance--and the 12-pound Neuro-Controlled Bionic Arm dutifully coordinates the task. Electrodes intercept the limb's residual nerve firings and feed them to a computer embedded in the forearm, which then commands six motors to move the device's shoulder, elbow and hand in unison. Thanks to hand sensors, the wearer can even gauge pressure and fine-tune his grip.

For now, the prototype arm fits just one man, Jesse Sullivan. This year, Sullivan demonstrated the device at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, where doctors are working to refine it. A faster, more durable commercial version should be ready by 2008, but the ultimate goal is a robotic limb that functions as well as, if not better than, its human analogue."

It isn't as good as an arm that allows for feeling, but hey, think of what happens when a bionic arm that allows you to feel has an error. Ouchies.

Re:Best of What's New 2005

[c_forq]

what happens when a bionic arm that allows you to feel has an error.
What happens if you have a phantom limb where a bionic arm gets put in place? Will you feel pain in the artificial arm?

Re:Best of What's New 2005

[FooAtWFU]

It isn't as good as an arm that allows for feeling, but hey, think of what happens when a bionic arm that allows you to feel has an error. Ouchies.

Presumably there's some limitation in design the human-machine interface- the actual parts that stimulate the nerve endings to make them think they're feeling something- which would preclude them from generating any exceedingly intense pain.

Re:Best of What's New 2005

[Chazerizer]

First, about the phantom limb. A phantom limb is the sensation post amputation that the limb is really there. This is due to the fact that there are nerves which have been completely obliterated at their end points and have atrophied. Because these neurons tell the brain where the limb is, there is a position of the limb which is associated with the neurons not firing at all. The brain can become confused as it tries to sort out that the missing postural sensors are telling them something completely different than the other senses. The long and short of it is, with the prosthetic limb in place, its just another cue that the actual limb isn't there. Maybe the brain figures it out, and maybe it doesn't. Just a quick reply to the original post. The bionic arm isn't really bionic. Its completely outside the body. Electromusculogram (EMG) electrodes on the skin are used to interpret what the user wants to do. They're not really using the same pathways to generate the response as a normal person would. Those pathways are (for the most part), completely gone anyway. As I understand it, the prosthetic hand their working on actually attempts to latch on to some of those atrophying pathways, and use them to move the device. Ironically, this should actually keep them from atrophying any more.

An Addendum:

[abscondment]

From the website:

1. be felt by an amputee as the lost natural limb delivering her/him a natural sensory feedback by means of the stimulation of some specific afferent nerves;
2. be controlled in a very natural way by processing the efferent neural signals coming from the central nervous system (reducing the discomfort of the current EMG-based control prosthesis);
3. be endorsed by the Darth Vader foundation trust;
4. be accessible to supervillians everywhere.

wait, did he just say....

[grasshoppa]

The final prototype includes sensors for tension, force, joint angle, end stroke and contact."

bwa hahahahhaah

Market size and other uses?

[dada21]

What is the size of the market for people who need a new hand? I'm intrigued for seeing deeper into the business plan here.

Are there profitable products that can be extended from this one? Maybe cybernetics for the non-handicapped in controlling machinery or possibly military purposes?

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be research for the handicapped, I'm just trying to see how a corporation justifiesthe expenses.

Or is this a government-funded (theft) product? If so, I'll say it is a waste.

Re:Market size and other uses?

[MrTester]

If you look at history you will find that war time always sees a boon in prosthetic and other medical technologies. We are getting a LOT of soldiers coming home with missing and damaged limbs, so there is a surge in trial patients, funding and general interest. Granted this is comming from Germany, not the US.... Doctor StrangeLove anyone?

Re:Market size and other uses?

[JuzzFunky]

I'd give my right arm for something like that!

Re:Market size and other uses?

[Kaptain Kruton]

What is the size of the market for people who need a new hand?
It is probably the size of the existing market for prosthetic hands.

Are there profitable products that can be extended from this one?
Other prosthetic devices and limbs would probably be a good place to start.

Maybe cybernetics for the non-handicapped in controlling machinery or possibly military purposes?
It is worth looking into. But because these devices work by interacting with an individuals nerves/nervous system, I suspect that creating such devices will be unlikely. This is because a great deal of time and money would be spent to attatch a machine to the nerves, calibrate it, and learn to use it.

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be research for the handicapped, I'm just trying to see how a corporation justifiesthe expenses.
When you consider the fact that these devices will be very expensive (and insurance companies will probably pay most of that cost), the potential for profit is quite large. That sounds like justification.

Or is this a government-funded (theft) product? If so, I'll say it is a waste.
Ummmm.... why did you bring the government into this?

Cyberware

[Terminal Saint]

Uh oh, we all know what this means: the LARPers can start in on Cyberpunk and Shadowrun.

Might I be the first patch submitter?

[hkb]

if( hand.Contents() ~= tubular && hand.Contents() == flesh)
{
      strength = strength /10;
}

but

[Anonymous Coward]

does it run linux? can it play ogg?

Alternatively...

[hkb]

"Wow, it really DOES feel like a stranger!"

BBC article on a decent state of art hand.

[zymano]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4225896.stm

The real question is...

[avalys]

Being technically able to produce one of these things is all well and good, but the real question is how long it will be before they cost less than $100,000.

Bionic eyes?

[ichigo 2.0]

Wonder how long till someone develops bionic eyes? I've been itching to ditch these failing organic meatballs called eyes for something better. High-def bionic eyes with zoom and night-vision would be pretty cool, not to mention the possibility of using them as a way to overlay information on top of stuff you see. Getting spyware could be quite annoying though, and if law enforcement had a way of remotely disabling them would suck, but maybe one could avoid that by running OS software on them. :)

Re:Bionic eyes?

[ajlitt]

We already have zoom. It involves moving either your eye closer to the object or the object closer to your eye. Try it. It's amazing!

Re:Bionic eyes?

[ichigo 2.0]

Wow, you're right, it works! I even came up with a way to automate it, just install rails on the sides of your head and put the object on them, with the help of a electric motor zooming in and out can be as easy as breathing! It gets a bit difficult when you want to zoom at an object far away though, when I installed longer rails I wasn't able to turn my head any more! But I think I have it sorted out now by using a tripod to support my head. Now I just need to file for a patent, now where did I put that form again...

Re:Bionic eyes?

[Blakey Rat]

Obligatory Red Dwarf quote?

(from memory)
Kryten (as human): "I can't seem to activate my 'zoom' function. How can I bring a distant object into sharp focus?"
Lister: "Uh. You just move your head closer to the object."
Kryten: "What about other optical effects? Slow-motion? Split-screen? Quantel?"

The important questions

[ichigo 2.0]

Yeah but does it run linux?

Imagine a beowulf cluster of these!

In Soviet Russia, hand grabs you!

Hey, I'm a bionic man you insensitive clod!

obligatory wayne's world quote

[Hoohoodilly]

Garth: You didn't say 2 or 1.
Producer: Oh. You don't say 2 or 1.
Garth: Why not?
Producer: You just don't. Mmm-kay?

Obligatory Spinal Tap Reference

[geomon]

if( hand.Contents() ~= tubular && hand.Contents() == flesh)
{
            strength = strength /11;
}

Re:Many questions remain unanswered

[c_forq]

That makes me wonder, on a serious note, what kind of heat this will produce? Might there be a rick of burning your skin it is attached to if you move too much? Will this cause excess sweating of the forearm? Or the armpit of whatever arm it is attached to? Will others get freaked the hell out when your hand feels really freaking weird when they shake it?

Bionic power supply

[netrangerrr]

In the 6 Million Dollar Man, the bionic implants used a small nuclear power supply - in one episode it had to be replaced. How do you supply power for any kind of extended operation for a bionic hand? It seems that like many mobile/implantable technologies, the ability to provide an extended power source is lagging. The batteries for a 24 hour operating capability probably weigh several times more than all of the electronics, sensors, and electro-elastic polymer "motors".

Re:Nerve Endings?

[c_fel]

Actually they can use the nerves that usally fit the best for the movements needed. But anyway, it doesn't have to be the exact same nerve : it's sure that a full reeducation is necessary. First, the feelings won't be the same as the ones the patient is used to. Second, the arm won't react exactly like a true arm.

But the brain is very capable to learn how to manipulate the new arm : it just takes minutes to actually "see" an image with an electrode on the tongue, with eyes shut (with the electrode connected on a camera). The brain learns that what it receives now on the tongue is a visual information and not a taste. So the fact that we usually don't see with our tongue is not a matter. It's the samething with the feeling of the new arm.

Heat concerns.

[ShadowBlasko]

As I know someone with partially servo controlled limb, I occasionally get to read some of the literature that is targeted towards people who need such devices. Something that seems to be a constant concern is heat dissapation.

The loss of a hand is a tremendous blow to the bodies ability to cool itself, and the addition of anything that creates additional heat is usually considered to be non-starter.

As I am unable to read the article from here I can not see if that is addressed within, but I am curious as to if there were any comments regarding it.

Re:Heat concerns.

[timbo234]

The loss of a hand is a tremendous blow to the bodies ability to cool itself, and the addition of anything that creates additional heat is usually considered to be non-starter.


I don't understand - how does the loss of a relatively small body part like the hand (or even a whole limb) wreck the body's cooling system?