Prosthetics

Amputees wishing to get a powered prosthetic hand – also known as a bionic hand – typically have to wait quite a while for it to be manufactured. Soon, however, they should be able to order a custom bionic hand that's 3D-printed within 10 hours.

Researchers at the University of Utah have been working on an advanced type of prosthetic and are now showing off what they call one of the world’s first truly bionic legs, with an early tester describing it as a Terminator-like experience.

Scientists studying brain-computer interfaces at Johns Hopkins University are reporting a big breakthrough, demonstrating a system that enables a quadriplegic to control and gain feedback from two prosthetics arms at once.

Scientists from the EPFL research institute are developing new technology, in which a computer takes over certain functions of prosthetic hands.

A Purdue University team has developed a special type of glove that gives a prosthetic hand some of the sensory capabilities of a human hand.

The latest effort to make use of this throw-away resource uses waste plastic water bottles to make sockets for prosthetic limbs.

​Tails are used throughout the animal kingdom to help with balance or to grip objects. Humans don't have such a thing, so scientists at the Keio University Graduate School of Media Design have built one to improve the agility of wearers.​

Scientists at Linköping University have developed an artificial muscle that runs off of glucose and oxygen like its organic counterpart. Made of a special polymer, the new plastic muscles open the promise of implantable artificial muscles that can be powered by like living organs.

MIT has developed an inexpensive sensor glove​ designed to enable artificial intelligence to figure out how humans identify objects by touch.

​​In news that will do little to dampen fears of a robot apocalypse, researchers have built a robo-limb that can teach itself to walk. It's hoped the research will open up new possibilities in the fields of dynamic prosthetics and robots that learn on the fly in unfamiliar environments. ​

A collaboration working under the EU-funded DeTOP project has developed a new hand prosthesis that reads signals direct from an amputee's nerves and muscles via electrodes implanted in the patient's arm.

Researchers have developed a prosthetic joint that connects directly to the forearm bones of an amputee, allowing them to use a prosthesis with a wrist-like rotary movement. Use of the new joint could dramatically improve the quality of life for amputees.