Slashdot Mirror
Bionic Hand Makes it to Market
root_42 writes "The BBC reports that a Scottish company has developed a bionic prosthetic hand, which is now going to market: 'The thumb and fingers can move and grip just like a human hand and are controlled by the patient's mind and muscles ... Mr Gow, who is the director of rehabilitation engineering services at NHS Lothian, told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "It's the first hand to come to the market that's actually had bending fingers just like your own hand."' The device really seems very "cool", compared to other prosthetics, and seems to allow the patients a wide variety of day-to-day activities. Also check out the patient gallery."
The important question is: does it come in shiny brass color, and can it hold a lightsaber?
Finally, I will no longer live in fear of being introduced to counts, those cute lovable jawas, having a drink at the Cantina, bringing prey back to my cave, being reunited with my father or vice versa!
Yes sir, I can now tell the next robed guy where to shove it when I'm told his aren't the droids I'm looking for.
My work here is dung.
Anyone know anything about the cost of these things? The cynic in me is imagining lawyers feverishly rewriting health insurance coverage clauses. I hope that as it becomes widespread, that "joe war-amputee" can afford it.
u-bend
Luke, loosing a hand runs strong in our family, join your fake and with mine and together we will rule the Galaxy. Well Unless we get to close to a microwave or something then we will just jerk out hands spasmotically.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
It sounds from the article ("Now I can pick up a Styrofoam cup without crushing it. With my other hand, I would really have to concentrate on how much pressure I was putting on the cup.") that there's some form of feedback mechanism, but I thought that was years away. Without pressure sensors, a you really have is a 'Waldo' attached to your wrist, you've got no way of knowing how much force you're exerting on an object.
Then, of course, you really want the rest of the sensory package, touch, temperature, pain feedback, and all the other things your hands do for you.
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
I'm already shuddering at the thought of the comments about to befall this story.
does it make that cool "na na na na na na" sound like Steve Austin's bionic implants made?
I have a mentally retarded brother-in-law who has hands we call "the grips of steel." He's mentally like a 2 year old but physically like a 25 year old in great shape. When he grips onto you, he can break bones, and leave a bruise at the minimum. It's impossible to get out of his kung-fu grip, so we don't hold his hand anymore but his wrist.
I always think of prosthetic hands when I have to help him into or out of a car or down steps. If the hand doesn't respond to the user, or if the user has a bad mental reaction, I wonder how much force can be applied by the prosthetic. Car windows aren't supposed to choke you if they're closed around your neck, but a prosthetic hand has to have the right balance of strength AND speed. What is the back-up release mechanism if there's a problem?
This makes Terminator's job in Judgement Day harder: peeling off your hand no longer means you're a killer robot from the distopian future.
These people look really happy. I'm so excited for them. To have regained this much manipulation is amazing. Best of luck for these patients and this company
Sorry the stereotype Scotland really annoys me. No matter where it was developed this a great development that will help many many people. "Bionic Hand" Made in Scotland :)
Wake me when the prosthetic arm can turn into a big sword, or a plasma rifle or something cool like that.
My friend's bionic arm cost him ~$45k. I don't think his can move individual fingers though. So this one could cost even more.
Cyborg fisting porn!
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
does anyone have any idea how strong (grip strength, shock resistant, etc) these hands are? i notice theres diagram in the article showing a 'power grip', but it doesn't go into detail on its limits.
(a little off-topic, but...)
Ben: These aren't the droids you're looking for (waves hand).
Officer (grabbing his chin): Hmmm, no, they're not, but they look.... close enough (I'll get a good bounty for them). "ARREST THEM!"
THE END
The picture at the bottom says, "i-limb" project - Apple may have something say about this!
One ring to bind them - should probably have more fiber and less rings in their diet.
...did anyone else reading the headline first think that the hand escaped and found its own way to the market?
This isn't the first myoelectric (muscle-powered) prosthesis to make it to market. There have been a few. These devices basically work by detecting electrical signals in muscles near the end of the remaining limb. What's really cool is the stuff in development using actual nerve signals instead. These could prove to be much more powerful because the nerves carry much more information and would allow for much finer control than you can get with myoelectric prostheses. Still, myoelectric is significantly better than passive prostheses.
Now I can type with both hands while viewing porn and still have an extra hand available (and one that doesn't tire)!
It would really suck to lose a hand but it would be awesome to gain a remote-controlled Thing. I for one welcome our scampering disembodied robotic hand masters. :)
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
This replaces the hook as my limb-replacement of choice.
you realize that my the time we can really make a bionic man/woman like the series, "six million dollar man" will sound like "3 hundred dollar man"
I can't imagine making something like this without attachments that extend it's use beyond that of the human hand.
The goal shouldn't be to replace a hand, it should be to provide something much cooler.
21st-Century-Citizen
Take in as much air as you can. This story should last about as long as you can hold your breath, and then just a little bit longer. So listen as fast as you can.
A friend of mine, when he was 13 years old he heard about "pegging." This is when a guy gets banged up the butt with a dildo. Stimulate the prostate gland hard enough, and the rumor is you can have explosive hands-free orgasms. At that age, this friend's a little sex maniac. He's always jonesing for a better way to get his rocks off. He goes out to buy a carrot and some petroleum jelly. To conduct a little private research. Then he pictures how it's going to look at the supermarket checkout counter, the lonely carrot and petroleum jelly rolling down the conveyer belt toward the grocery store cashier. All the shoppers waiting in line, watching. Everyone seeing the big evening he has planned. It's nice to see that John Katz is still contributing.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
But does it run Linux? Of course, Linux runs on Palm devices!
One ring to bind them - should probably have more fiber and less rings in their diet.
High Five!
will it blend?
More like someone copying and pasting the story "Guts" by Chuck Palahniuk (author of "Fight Club"). Supposedly some people faint when listening to him perform readings of it. I have no idea why the GP posted it here, though.
Happy people make bad consumers.
Just be careful what you use them for...
There's a video on youtube that shows what can go wrong with mechanical hands when they are out of control:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G334mNp8xbY
Hopefully, this won't happen to anyone else.
Well guys, it looks like they've made the first 9% of what could be the best thing for slashdotters since vi!
load "$",8,1
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
If I lose my hand, and I am forced to employ this device... will my doodle be safe for the jacking?
... punch through concrete and steel?
Yeah. Welcome to slashdot....
The worlds first bionic hand job. This also brings new meaning to the "stranger"
...in i-fruit colors?
One ring to bind them - should probably have more fiber and less rings in their diet.
Why don't You try the new suck it command ...
It will give you mouthful as fast as it can.
now i know that fingerprints are not the only (primary?) item during an investigation nowadays, but damn do these people have an advantage ;-p
This is great. Now I won't have to sit on my hand until it goes numb so it feels like someone else is jacking me off.
When they get a bionic arm together, we'll have one of these installed for skiboxing.
No, we won't, that's a stupid SF gag.
Yes we will.
Look, I'm running the arms, you've got the legs.
But that was when it was 2 limbs each...
--
make install -not war
No Donald! You know what happened last time!
Will the makers ensure it won't suffer from alien hand syndrome and go nuts knocking things over or from doing things the owner simply didn't intend it to do ^-^?
If I needed something of the sort I think I'd prefer something shiny and futuristic looking. Maybe something like from the Fullmetal Alchemist anime. If it's going to look obviously artificial at least it could be something that looks cool.
Well if they aren't going to create a Bionic women, a Bionic hand is the next best thing I guess. This may cause some very interesting trips to the ER.
They wouldn't have had this problem if they had just stayed away from the ocean and loose seals like their mother had told them in the first place.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
6 inch retractable titanium claws. That would be cool...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Why in the heck was this rated "Troll", anyway? It's a sincere comment. *confused*
(rot13) rpbzbab@tznvy.pbz
"We are building a fighting force of incredible magnitude!
You have our gratitude!
Give him a hand!"
[Insert pithy quote here]
... would be the song "Bionic Hands" by the Sprites.
- Man, my left hand just died. Not to worry, I have the spare battery in my pocket.
- Oh man, my right hand also died..
Groovy.
It puts the lotion on it's skin, or else it gets the hose again.
Now, when they figure out how Uncle Fester powered that lightbulb in his mouth, the energy crisis will be over.
Have gnu, will travel.
N/T
Do not aim laser at remaining hand!
The most important thing to do in your life is to not interfere with somebody else's life. -FZ
Who called this a troll?! What a sad, cynical thing to do.
Space game using normal deck of cards: http://BattleCards.org
I wonder if it'll come with the sound from the 6 million dollar man? Although, I'd be upset if everytime I lift my hand the "puuuuuuuuuuuuuur" keeps showing up. Plus masturbating would be somewhat more symphonic than I would like.
sri
http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200606/df2006 0602.jpg
Now men have their equivalent of the iGasm!
I'd rather it had fingers like Katie Holmes...
Hahaha, I've never been Bel-Air'd on Slashdot before. Nicely done, sir!
Could you give me a Hand here?
\
Pamela "Handerson" was getting tired.
Hope is the currency of fools
No more sitting on my hand until it goes numb!
Probably because to make this addition: It's hard to say what my parents were more disgusted by: how I'd got in trouble or how I'd saved myself. After the hospital, my mom got scared. And said "You're moving with your Auntie and Uncle in Bel-Air."
I whistled for a cab and when it came near. The license plate said "fresh" and there were dice in the mirror. If anything I could say that this cab was rare. But I thought "nah forget it, yo Holmes, to Bel-Air!"
I pulled up to a house about seven or eight. And I yelled to the cabby "yo Holmes, smell you later". Looked at my kingdom, I was finally there. To sit on my throne as the prince of Bel-Air.
All those people grossed out or feeling sorry for me.... Chuck Norris it's not, but I guess "Bel-Airing" people is the popular thing on the internet these days.
That said, I'm glad that you pointed out that the story was written by Chuck Palahniuk. The entire time I'm reading it I can't help but get the feeling that it sounds just like some of his work. It's nice to know that I'm not crazy.
If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will.
These new bionic devices should turn out to be quite handy. :)
Check out the pictures as mentioned in the summary. I'm sure it's a much easier problem probably basically solved, but I was also impressed by the finish, you'd have to look very closely to even notice that these are prosthetics at all (gallery shows both skeletal and finished/covered limbs.) Which of of these two hands is bionic? That they actually work too is amazing, I'm not surprised by the wide grins in all the photos.
damn you apple for making iThings it makes every one want to put an i in front of EVERYTHING and this just adds to the list... i wonder if any one made a list of ithings
(yes i know i suck at spelling fell free to correct my grammar and/or spellin i dont care, im still not going to change
...Thing? Is that you?
It gets the thumbs up from me!
so it doesn't run Windows!
Engineering is the art of compromise.
The Borg.
It'll quit hurtin' once the pain stops.
Music, and Big foot appearance.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Can you just imagine a beowulf cluster of these?