Bionics Without Surgery
We can rebuild you, we have the technology…
Boffins at a company called Touch Bionics have developed a bionic hand which would potentially allow the 1.2 million worldwide partial hand amputees an almost fully functional hand! It can allow a multitude of functions to include the ability to pick up fragile objects, write and even hold cutlery all without any surgery.
“There has been no solution like this for the partial hand amputee community. The ProDigits provide a powered device with a grip and it has returned these people to a level of functionality and independence. It is supporting a community that has never had support before.” Says Phil Newman, marketing director of Touch Bionics, an NHS spinoff company in Scotland.
The devices range in price from between £35k and £45k – so not cheap and not really a price that is available to all, but does include the actual ‘hand’, fitting costs, occupational therapy and the ‘skin’ covering. It is fitted to what would be left of the existing hand and can sense signals from the brain, via sensors attached to the skin, and turn them into actual movement.
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