Giving an artificial hand

Researchers at Idaho State University  (ISU) are collaborating to develop a “smart” prosthetic hand that will use nerve signals to fully simulate natural grasping, lifting and twisting hand motions. They hope the artificial hand will also respond to sensory and visual feedback.

The US Army Medical Research and Material Command (USAMRMC) of the Department of Defense (DoD) funded the first phase of this three-phase project this summer, providing an $842,000 grant to ISU.

'The existing commercial technology for arm and hand amputees hasn’t changed significantly in the past six decades,' said Dr Subbaram Naidu, ISU professor of Electrical Engineering, the grant’s principal investigator.

'The Department of Defense is embarking on a research program to fund prosthetic research to revolutionise upper-body prosthetics and to develop artificial arms that will feel, look and perform like a real human arm guided by the central nervous system.'

The ISU researchers will use skin sensors for “electromyographic” (EMG) signal extraction – recording the electrical activity in skeletal muscle. The scientists will then try to determine which EMG signals correspond to intended hand motions.