The great advancement of technology in recent times has allowed the medical field to benefit greatly from its development. Now you can detect diseases much earlier, and consequently start a treatment to cure them before they get worse. At the same time, it has also allowed a great advance in the world of prostheses, these structures that replace a part of the body and are ideal for all those who have lost a limb in an accident. This time it was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that created a novel hand prosthesis.
Although prosthetics have evolved a lot in recent years, this technology is not yet accessible enough to make a difference in the lives of people with amputated limbs.
A different prosthesis: it does not use electric motors
Despite this, this could begin to change thanks to the new hand prosthesis that a group of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created in collaboration with Jiao Tong University in Shanghai.
The price of this prosthesis is approximately $ 500 and is characterized by being an inflatable hand.
What differentiates it from other prosthetics is that it does not use electric motors to move , but instead uses a pneumatic system that inflates. In this way, different grips can be adopted with the prosthesis that allow us to do different tasks such as picking up certain objects (that are not too heavy) or caressing our pet.
Can make the user feel touch
It weighs just over half a pound (about 0.2 kilos). The key to this prosthesis is that it can make the person who uses it feel touch through a series of pressure sensors that it has in its structure. When the user touches something, it sends a signal of electricity to that specific area of the hand.
The group of scientists assures that it is easy to learn to use it and that even two volunteers took a quarter of an hour to start writing with the prosthesis.
They are very happy for its creation, but it is not yet ready for sale. Even so, they believe that their prosthesis is equal to or superior to those that exist today. In addition, it also has a low cost.
The prosthesis is not expected to be finished soon, but what is certain is that the team will continue to work on it in order to improve it and optimize its performance to the maximum. For example, they want to improve the decoding of electrical inputs.