Bionic hand enables amputee to feel for first time in years

A new prototype prosthetic hand containing sensors wired to nerves has enabled an amputee to feel objects for the first time in nine years.

A team led by Silvestro Micera, associate professor in neurology at Swiss-based technology institute EPFL, designed the hand to interact with the body's own nervous system.

Professor Micera said this sense of "touch" is achieved by sending digital signals through wires into four electrodes surgically implanted into what remains of the patient's upper arm nerves.

Pictures courtesy of EPFL

During a series of tests Sorensen, wearing a blindfold, could grasp objects and identify their shape and whether they were hard or soft. The electrodes were removed from Sorensen's arm after one month owing to safety restrictions imposed on clinical trials, although scientists are optimistic that they could remain implanted and functional without damage to the nervous system for many years.

Pictures courtesy of EPFL

Sorensen now wears the commercial prosthetic that he was using before, which detects muscle movement in his stump, allowing him to open and close his hand and hold onto objects, but without sensory feedback.

The researchers are now working on making the electronics more portable, as well as fine-tuning the sensory technology.