Prosthetics

Children

Budget 3D-printed prosthetic arm is made for toddlers

Given that parents are already reluctant to buy fancy clothes that their tyke will soon outgrow, it follows that they would really question buying their amputee toddler a prosthetic arm. A new prosthesis, however, could prove to be quite inexpensive.

The IMPACT hand will be available in a number of color choices

3D Printing

Custom bionic hand will be 3D-printed to order – in just 10 hours

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.

Tommaso Lenzi with amputee Kerry Finn, one of the early testers of the Utah Bionic Leg

Health & Wellbeing

Bionic leg offers amputee a Terminator-like experience

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.

Spinal cord injury patient Buz Chmielewsk with Johns Hopkins University researcher Matt Fifer

Medical

Bilateral brain implant gives paraplegic a two-handed sense of touch

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.

Researcher Artoni Fiorenzo demonstrates the shared control system, using a robotic arm

Good Thinking

Swiss tech is like driver-assist for prosthetic hands

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

Purdue University researchers have developed a electronic glove that can be worn over a prosthetic hand to provide sensory perception

Medical

E-glove slips over prosthetic hands to alert the senses

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 prosthetic sockets on the right were made from polyester yarn sourced from ground up waste plastic bottles

Medical

Researcher spins prosthetic socket from plastic waste

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

The Arque prosthetic tail could help with mobility, act as a counterweight for heavy lifting tasks, or provide realistic feedback while inside virtual worlds

Robotics

Scientists look to improve balance with a robotic tail

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.

The artificial muscle consists of polymer material, into which the researchers have integrated enzymes that burn the glucose for energy the same as a biological muscle does

Science

Artificial muscles run on glucose and oxygen, just like the real thing

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 researchers have developed a low-cost, sensor-packed glove that captures pressure signals as humans interact with objects

Robotics

Low-cost sensor glove could lead to robots that identify objects by touch

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

The new robotic limb attached to a four-legged machine

Robotics

Robotic leg leans on animal evolution to teach itself to walk

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.

The osseo-neuromuscular prosthesis not only results in improved dexterity, but also provides sensory feedback to the user

Medical

Implant brings increased dexterity and sense of touch to hand prosthesis

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.