People who have been unfortunate enough to lose fingers or even a whole hand can now get a cutting edge prosthetic hand.
Scottish company Touch Bionics has designed and produced the first artificial hand on which all fingers and the thumb move independently. Touch Bionic’s hand is powered by five motors: other prosthetic hands generally use only two. This give the user much, much more freedom and possibility.
Once fitted, the hand (or fingers) can be used immediately: though delicate operations take a while to master. A user said:
“I found the trick is not to think what I was trying to do. ” In other words, let it become automatic.
From a standing start two years ago, the company is likely to sell 500 hands this financial year, 60% of them in the USA. The cost there is around $20,000 (£14,000) before fitting costs.
