If things go well, prostheses may soon help a person “feel” too. Bionic hands with gelled fingertips may be the answer to provide the wearer with a sense of touch and sensitivity. This may even help them instinctively hold objects, because humans have a built-in reflex that responds to vibrations. The top part of the bionic hands are now going to consist of a rubber skin filled with thick silicon gel. If an object should slip, the elastic skin transmits the vibrations through the gel to acoustic sensors, which provide instant feedback, and the motors can tighten their grip. Also, the finger’s bone is covered with electrodes, which change the electric conduction according to the pressure that helps the user to feel.
Price and Availability: The prototype of the bionic finger will be unveiled at the BioRob conference next month.
Watch This: Advanced bionic prostheses could help the disabled a lot and increase their efficiency. Moreover, physically debilitating conditions are almost always psychologically debilitating too. This may help many disabled people to live a more productive and satisfying life.
Word around the Web:
Engineering Update says:
“Gel-filled fingertips could give prosthetic hands greater sensitivity, even allowing them to react “instinctively” to objects slipping from their grasp.”
Via: NewScientistTech
this is an incredible breakthrough of modern science and technology!!!
