The magic touch [including film playing 03:20]

Description

A new prosthetic hand developed at the Univeristy of Lund, Sweden, gives hope to amputee persons to regain hand mobility and touch feeling. The “nano wrap” that is being developed to be fitted around an amputee’s upper arm nerve bundle is the ambitious other part of the Smarthand’s robotic hand project. Technically speaking, it is called a “cuff electrode”: in practice, it’s a neural interface that will need to be surgically implanted and connected wireless to the hi-tech prosthesis. This nano/invasive/long-term scenario is still being tested. The non-nano/non invasive/short term option, which is featured in this film, has already scored a spectacular success in an experiment that was recently carried out at the University of Lund, in Sweden. The Smarthand consortium gathers 7 partners across Europe and Israel and is funded by the European Commission.