HM International Blog

Fredrik Sebelius, of Lund University, in Sweden, is one of those working on the project. He told CNN that the SmartHand is able to exploit the fact that many amputees experience what he terms a “phantom hand.”

When an amputee imagines moving a “phantom hand,” signals are sent down nerve fibres in the remaining part of the amputated arm to activate muscles that would have moved the fingers.

Myolelectric signals from those muscles are recorded by electrodes applied to the forearm and then transmitted to motors in the artificial hand.

It’s a technique that has been used in prosthetic limbs for decades, but Sebelius says the SmartHand gives much more control than other systems.

It also allows sensory information to be detected and transmitted from several sensors in each prosthetic finger, meaning users can actually “feel” objects they hold in the SmartHand.

difference between our system and others is the sensory feedback.

Fredrick Sebelius, Lund University, Sweden

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“Sensors in the prosthesis pick up tactile information, which is relayed to actuators on the arm that pass on the sensory feedback, and this hasn’t been done before,”

Sebelius gives the example of a pressure sensor on the artificial index finger sending a signal to forearm. By targeting the area of the forearm that activates the part of the brain associated with the index finger, the signal from the finger is “felt” by the brain.

He says the prosthesis could be commercially available within two years, but that the current technology is only suitable for amputations below the elbow. Upper arm amputees don’t have enough muscles associated with hand movement to control the SmartHand.