Prosthetic Hands with Smart Reflexes
Clinicians have long known that insensate hands tend to be almost useless even if they have normal motor function. Anyone who has tried to use their hands when their fingertips are numb from the cold also knows this. Nevertheless, designers of prosthetic hands have been reluctant to incorporate tactile sensing because their products need to be simple, robust and cost-effective to fit and maintain.
In research funded by the National Institutes of Health SynTouch was able to develop the BioTac and evaluate how these advanced sensors could improve prosthetic hand capabilities in both perception and dexterity. Through this work we have discovered how to combine the natural compliance of human fingertips with simple contact sensing and biomimetic reflexes to improve the control of prosthetic hands and meet the demanding requirements of manufactures, leading to the development of the NumaTac. SynTouch's intelligent grasping reflexes are currently being explored in clinical studies funded by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs and the NIH to bring this technology to market and improve the performance and intuitiveness of low-cost prosthetic hands.
