A groundbreaking innovation now allows amputees to experience temperature sensation through a prosthetic hand. This technological advancement is a significant step towards creating prosthetic limbs that can fully restore a range of senses, ultimately enhancing their functionality and acceptance among users. Neuroengineer Luke Osborn of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., who was not involved in the study, emphasizes the importance of integrating these technologies in a way that enables prosthesis users to perform functional tasks. Introducing new sensory feedback modalities could significantly enhance users’ functionality, expanding their capabilities beyond what was previously possible. The device has also proven to enhance the user’s ability to distinguish between touching an artificial or human arm, with an 80 percent accuracy rate when the device is turned on, compared to 60 percent when it is off. Neuroengineer Solaiman Shokur of EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, notes that while the accuracy is not quite as high as with an intact hand, it is a significant improvement. The field of restoring a sense of touch to prosthetic limbs has made significant progress over the past decade, but the ability to detect temperature has been a challenge. EPFL engineer Jonathan Muheim emphasizes that solving the issue of temperature detection is crucial in creating an artificial limb that truly replicates the sensations of a biological one.
2024-02-09 11:00:00
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