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Clever Touch
28 April 2016

Clever Touch

Prosthetic limbs can imitate human movements quite well but mimicking our sense of touch is much more complex. However, a Danish man who lost his hand in a firework accident was able to feel the difference between roughness and smoothness via a bionic fingertip dragged across textured plastic gratings, pictured. The device makes use of technology called mechano-neuro-transduction – tiny sensors convert pressure into spiky electrical signals, similar to those generated by the human nervous system. These impulses are delivered to the brain via electrodes surgically connected to nerves in the upper arm. The amputee, who was blindfolded for the experiment, reported a sensation of texture almost the same as from a real index finger.

Written by Mick Warwicker

  • Image courtesy of Hillary Sanctuary, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
  • The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy and Center for Neuroprosthetics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Copyright held by original authors
  • Research published in eLife, March 2016

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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