Neuroprosthetic hand provides tactile feedback

The soft, lightweight, and potentially low-cost neuroprosthetic hand is the result of a collaboration between engineers at MIT and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

“This is not a product yet, but the performance is already similar or superior to existing neuroprosthetics, which we’re excited about,” said Xuanhe Zhao, professor of mechanical engineering and of civil and environmental engineering at MIT. “There’s huge potential to make this soft prosthetic very low cost, for low-income families who have suffered from amputation.”

Zhao and his colleagues have published their work in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

The team’s artificial hand - made from the commercial elastomer EcoFlex - comprises five balloon-like fingers embedded with segments of fibre, similar to articulated bones in actual fingers. The digits are connected to a 3D-printed ‘palm,’ shaped like a human hand.