A 36-year-old man from Denmark has become the first amputee in the world to "feel" in real-time with a sensory-enhanced artificial hand. The prosthetic is surgically wired to nerves in his upper arm, allowing him to handle objects and instantly sense what they feel like.
The sensory system connected to the artificial hand was created by Silvestro Micera and colleagues from the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSSA) in Italy.
A prototype of the technology was tested in February last year, findings of which have recently been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
To create sensors in an artificial hand that detect information from touch, the scientists measured tension in artificial tendons that control finger movement. This measurement was turned into an electrical current.
Because the central nervous system is unable to understand this electric current, the researchers used computer algorithms to change the electric signals into an impulse that can be understood by sensory nerves.
These new impulses were then sent through wires into four electrodes that were surgically implanted into the nerves of the upper arm, therefore producing the sense of touch.
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