Bionic Hand Now Available
From: Servo Magazine - 11/2007 - page 8

The Touch Bionics i-LIMB Hand, formally introduced in July at the 2th World
Congress of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics in
Vancouver, Canada, looks like a great innovation for patients who are missing
a hand through accidents, acts of war, or birth defects. Designed to look
like the real thing, it is said to be the world's first commercially
available prosthetic hand with five individually powered digits. 

The device operates on an intutive control system that uses a traditional
myoelectric signal input to open and close its fingers. Myoelectric controls
use electrical signals generated by muscles in the remaining portion of a
patient's limb, with the signal being picked up by skin-mounted electrodes.
Not shown in the photo is the available "cosmesis" covering, which makes it
appear more lifelike in use. The device is already being fitted to patients
in many clinics in the US and Europe. 

Links:
Touch Bionics i-LIMB
http://www.touchbionics.com/professionals.php?section=4

Touch Bionics i-LIMB bionic hand
http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/17/touch-bionics-i-limb-bionic-hand/

Iraq war vet shows off bionic hand
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/07/24/bionic.hand.ap/index.html

Revolutionary I-LIMB Bionic Hand On Sale For $17,000
http://www.bornrich.org/entry/revolutionary-i-limb-bionic-hand-on-sale-for-17000/

The bionic hand that behaves as though it was real thing
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1116072007

-----

The Future of Prosthetics? Watch The World's First Bionic Arm in Action!  
From: Medical Electronics Bulletin

Take a glimpse into the future with this YouTube video of the world's most
advanced prosthetic limb! This bionic hand looks and acts like the real deal
and is the first widely available prosthetic device with five individually
powered digits.  

Watch as Sergeant U.S. Army (ret'd.) Juan Arredondo of Universal City, TX,
who lost his hand in Iraq in 2004 after his patrol vehicle was struck by an
explosive device, shows how this revolutionary new technology has made his
life that much easier! 

Watch the YouTube video at:
http://www.emediausa.com/l/?13881.1213225.AHBSOERV.0.3084

Juan Arredondo
http://www.touchbionics.com/professionals.php?section=3

Iraq Vet Shows Off Bionic Hand
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072400540.html

Army Sgt. Becomes First Vet To Receive Bionic Hand
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/bionic.hand.juan.2.246009.html

-----

Intelligent Software Helps Build the Perfect Robotic Hand
NASA Tech Briefs Insider Special Edition - 12/12/2007

Using artificial intelligence, scientists at the University of Portsmouth in
the UK and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China are creating software that
will learn and copy human hand movements. They hope to replicate this in a
robotic device that can perform the dexterous actions only capable today by
the human hand. 

The technology has the potential to revolutionize both manufacturing and
medicine. In the future, scientists hope that it could be used to produce the
perfect artificial limb. The researchers used a cyberglove covered in tiny
sensors to capture data about how the human hand moves. It was filmed in a
motion capture suite by eight high-resolution CCD cameras with infrared
illumination. 

The interface between artificial intelligence techniques and robotics could
pave the way for a new chapter in robotics technology. According to Professor
Xiangyang Zhu of the Shanghai University, "Humans move efficiently and
effectively in a continuous flowing motion, something we have perfected over
generations of evolution and which we all learn to do as babies. Developments
in science mean we will teach robots to move in the same way."  

Intelligent software helps build perfect robotic hand
http://www.port.ac.uk/aboutus/newsandevents/frontpagenews/title,73323,en.html
