More Good News n Prosthetics: Working Fingers

[Broomstick]

More good news on the prosthetics front, this time dealing with finger replacements rather than entire arms. Also puts a lie to notion that countries with national health systems, as opposed to the jacked up US "free market" system, can't innovate. Obviously they can - this device comes from Scotland.

ERIC JONES sat in a middle seat on a recent flight from the New York area to Florida, but he wasn’t complaining. Instead, he was quietly enjoying actions that many other people might take for granted, like taking a cup of coffee from the flight attendant or changing the channel on his video monitor.

These simple movements were lost to Mr. Jones when the fingers and thumb on his right hand were amputated three years ago. But now he has a prosthetic replacement: a set of motorized digits that can clasp cans, flimsy plastic water bottles or even thin slips of paper.

“Pouring a can of soda into a cup — that is a mundane daily action for most people, but to me it is a very big deal,” said Mr. Jones, who lives with his family in Mamaroneck, N.Y. “I slip my bionic fingers on like a glove, and then I have five moveable fingers to grasp things. It’s wonderful to have regained these functions.”

Mr. Jones’s prosthesis, called ProDigits, is made by Touch Bionics in Livingston, Scotland. The device can replace any or all fingers on a hand; each replacement digit has a tiny motor and gear box mounted at the base. Movement is controlled by a computer chip in the prosthesis.

ProDigits was released commercially last December, said Stuart Mead, the chief executive of Touch Bionics. About 60 patients have been fitted worldwide, he said, and some have been wearing it for three or four years. The cost is $60,000 to $75,000, including fitting and occupational therapy.

The technology used by Touch Bionics is based on prostheses that the National Health Service in Scotland developed for children there who suffered effects of the drug thalidomide, he said. The company, founded in 2003 as a spin-off from the health service, adapted the technology from custom prostheses into ones that could be produced commercially. It had funding from investors including Archangel Informal Investment and the Scottish Co-investment Fund.

The company’s first product, released two and a half years ago, was the i-Limb Hand, an entire hand that opens and closes and can grasp objects. It has been a success, Mr. Mead said, with more than 1,200 patients fitted with it in 40 countries.

The company then turned to creating ProDigits. “We decided to develop the technology to mechanize not just a hand, but individual fingers,” he said. “We always knew that it would be the bigger market — more people lose individual digits than lose entire hands — but also the most challenging technically."

The individual, motorized fingers are a new and promising development in the field, made possible in part by miniaturization of components, said John Miguelez, founder and president of Advanced Arm Dynamics of Redondo Beach, Calif. The company specializes in prosthetics for hands and arms for, among others, soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington. “More voltage and current can be applied to the motors,” he said, “creating increased speed and force.”

Dr. Douglas G. Smith, a professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Washington and Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, agreed. “Motors are getting stronger and smaller, and the batteries are thinner and smaller, too,” he said, making it possible to fit mechanical components into the space formerly occupied by a finger.

Eric Jones has been wearing a ProDigits prosthetic for 18 months. The artificial fingers are slightly larger than the originals, but that is not a problem, he said. “The fingers look cool,” he said. A switch on the side turns the power on and off, and he charges the digits overnight, as he would a cellphone

Mr. Jones starts the action by flexing or relaxing a muscle in the palm of his hand. Sensors built into the prosthesis pick up the signals sent by the muscles and send the message to the computer chip that controls the motor. The artificial fingers stop closing when they detect resistance, said Karl Lindborg, professional services director for Touch Bionics.

A single, outstretched prosthetic finger can operate a microwave oven or a cellphone; a finger and a thumb can hold a chess piece; three or more fingers can grasp a sphere. Mr. Jones said the fingers also provided a touch of class. “I can grasp a wine glass with my bionic fingers,” he said. “My pinkie and ring finger curve under the bowl very elegantly.”

PRODIGITS may be opened and closed not only by sensors that pick up muscle contractions, but also by dime-size pads put at the base of the fingers to detect pressure exerted by remnant bone. “If you can wiggle the bones in your palm, Mr. Miguelez explained, “that wiggle can be translated into controls to open and close the fingers.”

Robert J. Green of Bel Air, Md., who lost the fingers and thumb on his dominant left hand last year, operates his ProDigits in just that way. He uses his prosthetic fingers, for example, to write with a pen or a pencil. The artificial digits have actually improved his handwriting, he said, and he likes their appearance, too. “I look something like Arnold Schwarzenegger in ‘The Terminator,’ ” he said.

Videos of the device in action available here

[Norade]

It's things like this that help pick me up after reading the rest of the days news. I can't wish enough good things for the people developing this technology and to the people who are using it.

[Singular Intellect]

Truly amazing technology; I can only imagine the hope and happiness this kind of progress gives people who directly benefit from the advances.

And as the video said, this shit is only going to become more common place and better developed, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it happens significantly faster than most people expect.

[Broomstick]

Well, one big obstacle is still the cost - those fingers cost $50,000-75,000. That's not cheap. It's also why the lady in the video on the link I gave only has one hand with working fingers, her left hand is purely a cosmetic prosthetic not much removed from an iron hook. I hope the price comes down on these, as they would make them more accessible and allow for people who are double amputees to have two working hands.

The other thing I keep noting is a shift in how prosthetics look. 25 years ago a LOT of effort was put into making them look as life-like as possible, even when they didn't do anything. Now... "oh, it looks like the hand on the terminator, it's cool!" Nonfunctional prosthetics still seem to be in the category of make it look pretty, but it seems that a functional prosthetic can openly look like the machine it is and no one seems to mind. This is a new mindset, and it has only arisen with modern technology building truly useful replacement parts.

[Singular Intellect]

Well, one big obstacle is still the cost - those fingers cost $50,000-75,000. That's not cheap. It's also why the lady in the video on the link I gave only has one hand with working fingers, her left hand is purely a cosmetic prosthetic not much removed from an iron hook. I hope the price comes down on these, as they would make them more accessible and allow for people who are double amputees to have two working hands.

Like all technological developments and innovations, there's no reason to assume these won't start dropping in price rapidly as they become more mass produced and common for those who need/desire them.

The other thing I keep noting is a shift in how prosthetics look. 25 years ago a LOT of effort was put into making them look as life-like as possible, even when they didn't do anything. Now... "oh, it looks like the hand on the terminator, it's cool!" Nonfunctional prosthetics still seem to be in the category of make it look pretty, but it seems that a functional prosthetic can openly look like the machine it is and no one seems to mind. This is a new mindset, and it has only arisen with modern technology building truly useful replacement parts.

Personally, I applaud this shift in attitude. I would rate functionality above aesthetics any day, although I see little reason to assume both cannot be obtained and ultimately improved on.

I suspect that there's an underlining realization that our rapidly improving technological capabilities and understanding will soon overtake and quite likely vastly surpass our naturally evolved capabilities (current popular media and ideas seem to support this notion).

People seem to have a fearful but strong attraction reaction/mentality to the idea. I have little doubt it's the same kind of reaction homo sapiens had when we first started dicking around with fire.

[Broomstick]

Well, one big obstacle is still the cost - those fingers cost $50,000-75,000. That's not cheap. It's also why the lady in the video on the link I gave only has one hand with working fingers, her left hand is purely a cosmetic prosthetic not much removed from an iron hook. I hope the price comes down on these, as they would make them more accessible and allow for people who are double amputees to have two working hands.

Like all technological developments and innovations, there's no reason to assume these won't start dropping in price rapidly as they become more mass produced and common for those who need/desire them.

But I think they will always need to be custom-fitted, as not only is every human unique, but every injury is also unique. That will keep them more expensive than some other items, but bringing them down in cost to $5,000-10,000, even less, would make them enormously more accessible. Especially if they can be engineered with the durability to last a decade or more. That would put them more in line with getting a car than buying a house, which is where we're currently.

Oddly enough, though, these new prosthetics don't trigger the uncanny valley effect. You would think they would (well, I would have guessed that) but they don't. I'm not sure I can figure out why, as their motions aren't entirely lifelike, though they are getting there. They seem less uncanny valley than some of the purely cosmetic appliances.

The other thing I keep noting is a shift in how prosthetics look. 25 years ago a LOT of effort was put into making them look as life-like as possible, even when they didn't do anything. Now... "oh, it looks like the hand on the terminator, it's cool!" Nonfunctional prosthetics still seem to be in the category of make it look pretty, but it seems that a functional prosthetic can openly look like the machine it is and no one seems to mind. This is a new mindset, and it has only arisen with modern technology building truly useful replacement parts.

Personally, I applaud this shift in attitude. I would rate functionality above aesthetics any day, although I see little reason to assume both cannot be obtained and ultimately improved on.

Oh, probably - at least as one option among many.

I suspect that there's an underlining realization that our rapidly improving technological capabilities and understanding will soon overtake and quite likely vastly surpass our naturally evolved capabilities (current popular media and ideas seem to support this notion).

People seem to have a fearful but strong attraction reaction/mentality to the idea. I have little doubt it's the same kind of reaction homo sapiens had when we first started dicking around with fire.

I think people are simply becoming much more comfortable with technology, especially in regards to computers, software, and "smart" machines. I think back on the world I grew up in, and how things are today, and electronics permeate our lives to a much, much greater degree. Partly, I think that technology has had so much positive impact on peoples' lives that they've become much more accepting of all aspects of it as a general rule. It doesn't have to be huge things, just enough little things - microwave ovens making cooking chores easier, GPS navigation in the hands of everyone, cars that "remember" how different drivers like their seat/mirrors adjusted... a thousand little things that whittled away at the old fears about machinery in our lives.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Oddly enough, though, these new prosthetics don't trigger the uncanny valley effect. You would think they would (well, I would have guessed that) but they don't. I'm not sure I can figure out why, as their motions aren't entirely lifelike, though they are getting there. They seem less uncanny valley than some of the purely cosmetic appliances.

I think it may be due to the fact that they don't look as humanlike as the purely cosmetic ones do in terms of pure appearance. They don't come across as "weird" hands, but as mechanical hands. At least for me, the more obviously a machine the prosthetic is, the less of an "uncanny valley" effect it has.

[LadyTevar]

The new hands are large and bulky in the palm area, and the fingers look far too thin, so that helps keep it out of the Uncanny Valley. They are certainly false hands... but they work well in those vids. I think the Spanish woman may still be learning to use it, as she's still a bit awkward.

[Zed Snardbody]

NPR did a story not to long ago about some Iraq/Afgan vets stripping the rubber outers off of their prosthetics because it looked cool. Now the companies are issuing them with clear and opaque outers now since they're necessary to keep dirt and grit out of the mechanics.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I expect that when our robotics improve to the point of taking on a more anthropomorphic look, while retaining functionality of the former model, or approaching a real hand, then the effect may be more noticeable. Right now, it is clearly a prosthetic.

[LadyTevar]

NPR did a story not to long ago about some Iraq/Afgan vets stripping the rubber outers off of their prosthetics because it looked cool. Now the companies are issuing them with clear and opaque outers now since they're necessary to keep dirt and grit out of the mechanics.

You're talking about 18-25yr olds who've grown up on Terminator and other Sci-Fi movies. And you're *surprised* they decided "Hey, it looked cool in the movie! I'll do it! Hey dood! Lookit!" "Dood! Kewl! Terminator Style!"

This generation of soldiers is simply dealing with their replacement parts differently. It's always traumatic to lose a body part, but because of the movies they've seen, they've got a different mindset. "Hell, even Anakin Skywalker had a metallic hand.. and then Darth Vader had a whole mechanical Body! I can deal with this." Make it look robotic, make it look Movie Prop, and this generation of soldiers have something they can take home to their buddies and brag about, unlike the generations before who'd hide prosthetics in shame.
Personally, I think it's probably healthier for the soldiers to think of them as 'bionic parts' rather than prosthetics.

[Admiral Valdemar]

They don't even need to go by looks. There was a little girl on the news a while back who lot her feet due to meningitis and had to have prostheses. Now she has blades, like that South African athlete the Blade Runner. She even wrote to soldiers who suffered IED blast injuries to opt for these things because they made her far more flexible than her old feet that only had the benefit of looking vaguely human, but having none of the practical attributes.

[Serafina]

Personally, I think it's probably healthier for the soldiers to think of them as 'bionic parts' rather than prosthetics.

This is to my knowledge pretty much true as far as phantom pain and similar effects of loosing a limb go.

Particulary in the case of soldiers it is propably pretty similar to bragging about scars, which is nothing new.
Either way, it's good to know that they are content with their injuries.

Of course it would be even nicer if you could change the look easily - a transparent casing is already a good step into that direction, applying cosmetic "skin" onto it could be rather easy after all. Formal party? Dress your robotic arm to look normal. Playing sports with your buddies? Show off what you've got.

Prices should, as always, become lower once the technology is established and get's a little more widespread. Of course, it is not (yet) a consumer item so it propably won't go into real mass production, but the price is already not that high if you consider the benefits.
Of course, once rich people start to chop of their limbs and replace them with metal for shit and giggles, the price should go down even further

[Broomstick]

Of course it would be even nicer if you could change the look easily - a transparent casing is already a good step into that direction, applying cosmetic "skin" onto it could be rather easy after all. Formal party? Dress your robotic arm to look normal. Playing sports with your buddies? Show off what you've got.

A couple years back a local paper featured a story on returning vets with amputations and one of the things mentioned was that a local tattoo artist was commissioned to paint onto a prosthetic a copy of the tattoo that was lost with the original limb. The tattooist mentioned that it's a very rare thing for someone in his line of work to do something twice.

But yes, people from my generation to this current coming-of-age generation has a MUCH different view of prosthetics than prior ones. I think that is partly because modern prosthetics work. But it's also because of the media - they grew up with The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman who were clearly heroes. They grew up with The Terminator who wasn't always a nice guy but very powerful, and Darth Vader who, despite being mostly replacement parts, was an enormously powerful villain. Prior generations saw amputees as helpless - this one grew up on them having superpowers.