INNOVATION FOR INDEPENDENCE
ISSUE 126 APRIL/MAY 2019 £6.95
Prosthetic hand with tactile and dexterity sensations implanted A BREAKTHROUGH project involving pioneering surgery on a person with an amputated hand, to implant a prosthetic hand which offers tactile sensations and great dexterity, has involved researchers at the University of Essex. The Swedish woman, who has an amputated hand, has become the first recipient of an “osseo-neuromuscular implant” which offers to control a dexterous hand prosthesis. Titanium implants were placed in the two forearm bones, from which electrodes to nerves and muscle were extended to extract signals to control a robotic hand and to provide tactile sensations. This makes it the first clinically viable, dexterous and sentient prosthetic hand usable in real life. The new implant technology was developed in Sweden by a team lead by Dr Max Ortiz Catalan at Integrum AB – the company behind the first bone-anchored limb prosthesis using osseointegration – and Chalmers University of Technology. This first-of-its-kind surgery, led by Professor Rickard Brånemark and Dr Paolo Sassu, took place at Sahlgrenska University Hospital as part of a larger project funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020 called DeTOP. The DeTOP project is coordinated by professor Christian Cipriani at the Scuola Superiore
Sant’Anna, and also includes the University of Essex, Prensilia, the University of Gothenburg, Lund University, the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology, INAIL Prosthetic Center, Universitá Campus BioMedico di Roma, and the Instituto Ortopedico Rizzoli. Scientists from the Essex Brain-Computer Interfaces and Neural Engineering Laboratory, at the University’s School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, were involved in the project. Dr Luca Citi, who is leading the Essex side of the project, said: “Within the project, the Essex team contributed to the development of algorithms which could decode and understand the neuro-muscular signals from the user’s brain about what they intended to do and then send those commands to the robotic control of the prosthetic hand.” Conventional prosthetic hands rely on electrodes placed over the skin to extract control signals from the underlying stump muscles. Richer and more reliable information can be obtained by implanting electrodes in all remaining muscle in the stump instead. Sixteen electrodes were implanted in this first female patient in order to achieve more dexterous control of a novel prosthetic hand developed in Italy by the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and Prensilia.
Open Bionics, a start-up that developed in Bristol Robotics Laboratory, has been named in a prestigious annual list of the world’s most innovative companies for 2019. The list, published by American business magazine Fast Company, honours the companies making the most profound impact on both industry and culture. Half of the businesses on this year’s list of 50 innovative organisations are appearing for the first time. Open Bionics has been ranked sixth in the list’s Europe category. The company creates advanced multi-grip bionic hands called ‘Hero Arms’ for amputees. Samantha Payne, co-founder and COO, said: “We’re thrilled to be recognised by Fast Company as a business changing an industry. We’re excited to be named one of the best in Europe and are very excited to launch in the US this year.”