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Star Wars-Style "Bionic Hand' Fitted To First Patients

Posted by samzenpus on from the that's-quite-a-grip dept.

schwit1 writes "Three Austrians have replaced injured hands with bionic ones that they can control using nerves and muscles transplanted into their arms from their legs. The three men are the first to undergo what doctors refer to as "bionic reconstruction," which includes a voluntary amputation, the transplantation of nerves and muscles and learning to use faint signals from them to command the hand. Previously, people with bionic hands have primarily controlled them with manual settings."

72 comments

  1. Not good enough for women yet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Because women's fapping requires more nuanced touch.

    1. Re:Not good enough for women yet. by Falos · · Score: 1

      You might wanna practice on a hot dog first or you'll tear it right off.

    2. Re:Not good enough for women yet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hot dog? You poor bastard.

    3. Re:Not good enough for women yet. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Is that the foot long?
      And then some.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  2. 1973... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What is this âoeStar Warsâ you speak of? The Six Million Dollar Man perfected this technology in 1973.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:1973... by superwiz · · Score: 4, Funny

      Star Wars took place long, long time ago. So what is this 1973 you are talking about?

      --
      Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
    2. Re:1973... by dpidcoe · · Score: 2

      Star wars is a terrible analogy anyway. The movie depicts a direct replacement for an amputated limb, which isn't quite what's going on here. If you read TFA, what these are being used for are people with nerve damage that basically amputates the limb internally while still leaving an intact limb. They repurpose nerves from elsewhere to replace the function of the damaged ones, then amputate the useless limb and replace with a mechanical one hooked up to the repurposed nerve groups. Presumably the amputee then moves the fingers of the limb via imagining flexing their toes or something.

    3. Re:1973... by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 3, Funny

      yeah but it was in a galaxy far far away and we don't recognize their medical literature.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
    4. Re:1973... by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 1

      No, that's not how it works. Tissue is fungible. A nerve from your foot implanted in your arm doesn't magically keep being connected to your foot, it behaves like some cat5 moved around. They just try to move their hand like normal and based on what happens the brain adapts over time.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
    5. Re:1973... by sexconker · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Star Wars took place long, long time ago. So what is this 1973 you are talking about?

      Wrooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong.
      The quote is "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....".

    6. Re:1973... by Minwee · · Score: 1

      The Star Wars hand doesn't make a "doot doot doot doot" sound all the time.

    7. Re:1973... by dpidcoe · · Score: 1

      I think that cat5 analogy is exactly what I said wasn't it? If you move a cat5 from one server to another, the switch port associated with server1 is now associated with server2 and you're going to have confusion until the MAC table on the switch updates.

      My understanding of how the brain works is that there's a spiral shaped region where most of the upper motor neurons run to and each location where one terminates is mapped to some location on the body. Without brain surgery, what was formerly the "toe" neurons would now be the ones operating the fingers after transplanting the nerve endings. Without enough biofeedback the brain would obviously come to recognize them as "fingers" instead of "toes", but I'd imagine the process is far slower than updating the MAC table on a network switch.

    8. Re:1973... by OakDragon · · Score: 2

      Star Wars took place long, long time ago. So what is this 1973 you are talking about?

      Wrooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong. The quote is "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....".

      But along, long time ago...
      I can still remember
      How that music used to make me smile

      --
      Dark Reflection
    9. Re:1973... by OakDragon · · Score: 2

      Star wars is a terrible analogy anyway.

      True, there were no automobiles in Star Wars for a proper car analogy. Land-speeders, sure, but no cars.

      --
      Dark Reflection
    10. Re:1973... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      No. You're thinking they pulled one end of the cat5 out and plugged it in somewhere else, while leaving the other end in place. That's not the case here; they pulled both ends of the patch cable out, and used it to replace a faulty one elsewhere, if we must stick with the structured cabling analogy.

    11. Re:1973... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Begun, the saga has

    12. Re:1973... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I read TFA, and there's no practical difference between adding a bionic prosthetic for a missing limb versus intentionally amputating a disconnected limb to replace with a bionic prosthetic.

    13. Re:1973... by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      How many library-of-congress's is two far's?

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    14. Re:1973... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Was that as wrong as your Ebola fear-mongering, sexconker?

    15. Re:1973... by Eddy_D · · Score: 1

      Did not really think of it until now, but if Star Wars happened a long long time ago and in a Galaxy far far away then we should be seeing some battle action in our telescopes aaaanyyy second now...

      --
      - I stole your sig.
    16. Re:1973... by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 1

      Actually, the light from the events in question reached us and were recorded on film to be released to the public with added dramatization scenes for a better narrative in 1977, 1980, and 1983. Unfortunately, the initial events that alerted our scientists to these epic space battles could only be documented and not captured on film due to limitations of technology at the time. This led to the events being reproduced roughly 20 years later instead of being a live broadcast, leading to a degradation in the narrative... Kinda like Rescue 911.

    17. Re:1973... by sexconker · · Score: 1

      The Star Wars reference was wrong.
      My "fear mongering" was not.

      Within weeks of my post, we saw just how ill-prepared the US was for Ebola. We saw failing protocols for medical workers, an utter lack of protocols for medical workers in other cases, an inability to quarantine infected people, an inability to effectively track exposed people, etc.

      I was proven very fucking right. The post I was responding to said such a thing was impossible in a nation such as the USA.

      Keep on tryin, though!

    18. Re:1973... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You keep on tryin' with your proven-very-fucking-wrong-fear-mongering too, champ!

  3. This type of technology makes me happy. by jellomizer · · Score: 1

    I like seeing real progress in technology. Although, I think the idea of giving an artificial limb a skin color just adds to the uncanny valley. If I were to ever need such an implement, I would ask for a version that would look stylish, however not colored like a hand. It doesn't really fool anyone, and it actually would make someone stare more, vs. a Sliver or Black model. As their brain will not try to figure out why this dead hand is moving.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:This type of technology makes me happy. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 2

      I'd want the model with a transparent skin and casing, so everyone can admire the intricate mechanisms inside.

    2. Re:This type of technology makes me happy. by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Better yet, have one with fake skin so you can cut it off and do the "reveal", Terminator style.

    3. Re:This type of technology makes me happy. by Minwee · · Score: 4, Funny

      You could also fill it with blue LEDs and cold cathode light tubes so that...

      Um...

      So that the hand would go faster, or something. I'm pretty sure that's the reason for those things.

    4. Re:This type of technology makes me happy. by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      The point with the style is to reduce extra attention to the limb. If you try to make it look too human like, it fails, if you make it too robotic it fail... There is a middle ground, where they don't try to mimic the look of the limb, but they also don't look too much out of place to draw attention either.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    5. Re:This type of technology makes me happy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Why do these Republican scumbags make you happy? They're going around chopping the hands off of people. That is ethically, morally, and legally wrong. Why does your kind always celebrate violence?

    6. Re:This type of technology makes me happy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Dumbass. It's RED that makes things go faster. Jeez, the technical knowledge on Slashdot is really going downhill these days...

    7. Re:This type of technology makes me happy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're Austrians; not Americans associated with the Republican party. RTFA much? It's elective surgery, nothing wrong at all. Why does your kind need to bring up politics all the time?

    8. Re:This type of technology makes me happy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      IT IS NOT. THEY ARE CUTTING OFF THEIR HANDS. CUTTING THEM OFF. WHY DOES YOUR KIND LIE ABOUT THAT?

      The Republicans hate humanity so they get off on anything that hurts humanity. That is the way of their kind.

    9. Re:This type of technology makes me happy. by Sarten-X · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It doesn't really fool anyone, and it actually would make someone stare more, vs. a Sliver or Black model. As their brain will not try to figure out why this dead hand is moving.

      I take it you haven't actually ever seen a good prosthetic limb, then... ...or you have, but didn't know it.

      As the saying goes, you can fool all of the people some of the time, and that's what prosthetic devices are designed to do. The fellow diner lifting his glass to drink, or the empty hand of a pedestrian walking down the street, or the passenger on the opposite seat on a bus... How often do you actually look at their hands long enough to consider how perfectly their skin color matches your expectations? Do you interact enough with them to notice how their skin folds?

      Common situations like that are where a more obvious skin color brings even more staring, questions, prejudice, and pity. Current skin doesn't work well enough to fool someone who's looking, but for most common occurrences, it's close enough to be ignored, and that's the desired reaction. Silver or black will have every child (and many adults) pointing and staring, which is usually not so desired.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    10. Re:This type of technology makes me happy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      In cars, yes. In computing, blue goes faster.

    11. Re:This type of technology makes me happy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're neither funny nor subversive.

    12. Re:This type of technology makes me happy. by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 1

      Kinda like speedy IBM...

  4. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They used "manual" settings? Handy!

  5. Six Million Dollar Man, FTW by mrflash818 · · Score: 1

    The Six Million Dollar Man predates StarWars and bionics, m'kay.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    --
    Uh, Linux geek since 1999.
    1. Re:Six Million Dollar Man, FTW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Just because the transmissions of their historical records didn't reach Earth until a few years later doesn't mean that the Six Million Dollar Man predates them. It takes a long time for the transmissions to get here from a galaxy far, far away.

      (Yes, I just added a Galaxy Quest reference into the discussion.)

    2. Re:Six Million Dollar Man, FTW by mrflash818 · · Score: 1

      : )

      --
      Uh, Linux geek since 1999.
  6. It's about time! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This technology has been available for a long long time... albeit in a galaxy far far away

  7. Proofreading... by almitydave · · Score: 1

    The technology's great - something that I feel was inevitable, yet still a tremendous breakthrough.

    That being said, does no one proofread anymore?

    Following amputation, surgeons had to wait three months for the limbs to heel before they could be fitted with the new prosthetic.

    --
    my, your, his/her/its, our, your, their
    I'm, you're, he's/she's/it's, we're, you're, they're
    1. Re:Proofreading... by Livius · · Score: 2

      Obviously the limbs couldn't be fitted with prosthetics until they had stopped moving.

  8. Ob. by Stormy+Dragon · · Score: 1

    But scientists in Austria have performed the first ‘bionic reconstructions’ on three men in a breakthrough which has allowed them to carry on with their daily lives and careers.

    Well, as well as one can carry on when they're more machine now than man, twisted and evil.

  9. Did i read that right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    VOLUNTARY AMPUTATION?

    Fucking Austrians man...

    1. Re:Did i read that right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Well, the Terminator was Austrian. I don't see why we need to waste money on this, anyway. We have a tremendous surplus of illegal aliens we're trying to figure out what to do with. *COUGH* spare parts *COUGH*

    2. Re:Did i read that right? by x181 · · Score: 1

      The test subjects had injured hands which probably did not need to be amputated but were voluntarily given up and replaced by "uninjured" bionic hands.

    3. Re:Did i read that right? by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      I'm wondering. If the nerve transplant alllows use of the bionic hand, why wouldn't it allow use of the nerve damaged hand?

      It probably would be safer with a fake hand as feeling probably would remain gone so burns and other damaging injutirs could go undetected wherd its not so mucb a health concern with tbe bionic hand. I dunno, maybe there is something moe technical or maybe it a "because i can" thing.

  10. yeah, but was it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    3D PRINTED? Otherwise, who cares!

  11. A stepping stone anyway. by wjcofkc · · Score: 1

    We've been following the development of this sort of technology here on Slashdot for a long time for sure. In fact, I find this area of research and development to be among the most fascinating of our time and am course always glad to see people getting help from them. However, I won't be truly impressed until someone can peel the Orange away with the bionic hand using nothing more then the same part of our brain that we would use to control that function in the first place. Perhaps the next time a story like this gets posted.

    --
    Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
  12. TROLL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Are you a NIIGER raise or lower the were taken over

  13. is it weird... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that I would totally give up a limb if it meant I could have a rad robo arm?

  14. I read that as fitted to fist patients... by lectos · · Score: 0

    I need my eyes checked.

  15. Manual, Schmanual by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    "Previously, people with bionic hands have primarily controlled them with manual ..."

    OK, got that, we can't have 'manual' stuff with hands.

    1. Re:Manual, Schmanual by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Previously, people with bionic hands have primarily controlled them with manual ..."

      OK, got that, we can't have 'manual' stuff with hands.

      Win

    2. Re:Manual, Schmanual by quenda · · Score: 1

      Sounds as useful as a solar-powered flashlight.

    3. Re:Manual, Schmanual by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

      Many realism-emphasizing prosthetic hands are little more than flexible wires inside a synthetic skin. Controlling the position of the prosthetic fingers means reaching over with the other hand and adjusting them.

      In other news, I have used two kinds of solar-powered flashlight. One was a lantern with a battery inside, so a few hours sitting in the sun (like on the bow of a canoe) provided several hours of light that evening. The other was a home-built contraption for getting a bit more light inside a cabin with no utility connections. It was a solar panel attached to a regulator and a few LEDs on a long wire. It didn't do much after the sun went down, but during daylight the cabin's window shortage wasn't as obvious.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
  16. Monster Garage It! by sycodon · · Score: 2

    Interchangeable devices...Power drill, Sander, Dildo for the Ladies!

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  17. Voluntary amputation by MasterRa · · Score: 0

    Voluntary amputation - what?!

    1. Re:Voluntary amputation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      When you injure the Brachial Plexus, there is virtually nothing you can do to get that arm working again, especially if the damage is complete. That arm or hand is basically dead, and will hang off of your shoulder for the rest of your life, getting in the way, getting injured and infected, dragging itself out of the shoulder socket, distorting your spinal column and causing continuous pain.

      Voluntary amputation is seen as a blessing after a long enough time of that horror.

  18. So factoring in relativistic considerations . . . by mmell · · Score: 1

    Everything that's happening now is happening now?

  19. Did i read that right? by jordanjay29 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Removing a useless limb to replace it with a working mechanical facsimile? Seems reasonable to me.

  20. A stepping stone anyway. by jordanjay29 · · Score: 1

    As we understand more and more about the brain, that reality creeps ever-closer. I wouldn't put it past someone to be already working on it.

  21. Re:Terminator style by XMark3 · · Score: 1

    Yep, if I had a hand like that, I'd do that EVERY time I meet new people. Especially kids.

  22. So... by Greyfox · · Score: 1

    I'm curious to see how often they have random people tell them they're their father, or ask them if they can lend a hand. It might not be that many, if they can also crush bone with their bionic hands.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  23. Star Wars? by rebelwarlock · · Score: 2

    Yeah, the bionic hand is great and all, but what in the actual fuck does it have to do with Star Wars? Besides the one throwaway sentence at the start of the article, nothing. Fluffy bullshit is bullshit. Here's a better link (to a PDF) from The Lancet:

    http://press.thelancet.com/bio...

    No more page views for clickbaiting whores from Telegraph, please.

    1. Re:Star Wars? by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Speaking of Star Wars, Slashdot needs to change their Star Wars icon from R2D2 to Robot Head on a Soccer Ball.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  24. Use the insurance, Luke! by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

    Expensive this new prosthetic will be.

  25. Re:So factoring in relativistic considerations . . by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 1

    That depends on your frame of reference.

    --
    Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
  26. Re:Terminator style by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 1

    I'd want a detachable one, if only for the "can you give me a hand" jokes.

    --
    Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
  27. Re:So factoring in relativistic considerations . . by SargentDU · · Score: 0

    Everything that's happening now is happening now?

    Spaceballs for the win! :)

  28. Cool hand, Luke by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

    I have a relative that could use something like this, I hope it becomes affordable and readable for them soon.

    --
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