Lending a helping hand
Modern technology has allowed some astonishing developments in the last few years in the field of artificial limbs, both in the construction of them and the control of them. This month saw two very interesting developments.
3D printing is often seen as a novelty, but a 25 year old robotics graduate, Joel Gibbard, who works for Open Bionics in Bristol, has devised a 3D printing application to create articulating prosthetic hands. It takes about 40 hours to assemble the hand, and the cost works out at about £1,000, but this compares very favourably with commercially available prosthetics which cost upwards of £3,000 for a similar device. One area where this has obvious application is in developing countries where the costs of the current commercial products puts them out of reach of the health services or individuals, and where the commercial manufacturers do not have any sales or distribution channels. It is also possible that the availability of the 3D-printed alternative may force the prosthetics industry to rethink its pricing and become more competitive.
Most people are aware that modern electronics allow prosthetics to be controlled by muscle movements and nerve impulses, but few realise how sophisticated this has become in recent years. This short video (no sound) shows some fantastic examples of a remarkable artificial arm controlled entirely by a neural interface, and illustrates just how truly enabling this technology is.
Researchers at DARPA, (the US Defence Research Agency which built the foundations of the Internet) this month announced further developments in its neural interface which allows sensors on the fingers of an artificial arm to create the sensation of touch in the user's brain. The researchers are reporting that this gives "nearly natural" results. The subject was able to identify which finger was being touched with near 100% accuracy, and wasn't fooled when researchers asked which finger they were touching, whilst actually touching two fingers at the same time.
It sometimes seems like science fiction, but its great that we are using technology to overcome disabilities, and great that our technology allows both the small independent inventors and the well-funded government agencies to make contributions. My one disappointment is that whilst these news stories received good press coverage, all the major news organisations headline them as rather freakish sounding "robot hands".
We humans are not shy of using technology to assist us. We have long used metals and man-made ceramics to repair and replace broken and damaged teeth, and we place high-tech plastic discs called contact lenses onto our eyes to correct faulty vision. Hearing aids let us better talk to the person next to us whilst bluetooth headsets and a mobile phone lets us communicate just as easily with people on the other side of the planet, something no wholly organic creature could ever do. Pacemakers manage irregular heart beats, titanium knee joints overcome limits of our skeleton, and then there are silicone implants. If the cutting edge prosthetics are "robot" parts, then I guess we are all cyborg to some degree.
30th September 2015
This article comes from the SKILLZONE email newsletter, published monthly since January 2008, and covering topics related to technology and the internet. All articles and artwork in the SKILLZONE newsletter are orignal content.