The iLimb Looks, Feels, and Most Importantly Moves like a Real Human Hand

The Six Million Dollar Man, a popular television show from the 70s began with the monologue "we have the technology." Although the details of my memory are fuzzy, he was rebuilt with bionic limbs after some sort of accident. The idea may have made the show popular, but the technology for building bionic limbs really is not that far off. In fact, it is here. Much like the artificial hand bestowed on Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, the iLimb lets people who have lost a hand perform all of the same functions that a real limb would.

The new prosthetics may not give their users superpowers, but they do at least look better than the traditional hook type made popular by pirate movies. Touch Bionics, a biotechnology firmed based in Scotland makes the new prosthesis which went on the market in July of this year. So far 14 people have received one, two of whom were veterans of the war in Iraq.

The prosthetic devices interpret signals from the nerves still remaining and feeds the data into a computer chip stationed in the device. A database in the chip than interprets the signals so that the prosthetic will move in the way desired by the user. In this way it mimics the functions of a real limb which are also turned maneuvered into various positions by interpreting nerve signals. The price for the units can range from $60,000 to $150,000 depending on the severity of damage to the limb replaced.
According to Touch Bionic's own website one of the chief advantages of their product is that it offers a wide range of grasps not possible with the traditional pincers often offered to people who have lost their hand. Motors in each digit of the prosthetic hand are allowed to stall individually and the thumb of the unit can be used in different positions. All of it adds up to allowing amputees much of the same range of movement and ability they would have had before losing the limb. If for some reason a child should need one of their ilimbs, the outer casing can be removed and replaced as the child grows into adulthood.

Several soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan have already received one of these artificial hands. While the technology was probably being developed long before the war it is unsurprising that some of the earliest applications are a result of people being wounded by Improvised Explosive devices serving in the armed forces.

Sources:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/duncan/17654/

http://www.touchbionics.com/page.php?pageid=23§ion=3

"Bionic Hand Makes Life Earier for Amputee." Jordan Life. Tuesday, July 31, 2007. New York Daily News. New York, New York.