There are plenty of advanced prosthetic devices on the market these days. Most of them can’t restore proprioception for amputees. Researchers from from EPFL, the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa and the A. Gemelli University Polyclinic in Rome have developed a bionic hand that can restore the sense where your hand is.
The new device allows patients to interact with objects and sense their shape, position and size without having to look at them. As the developers explain:
The prosthesis has been successfully tested on several patients and works by stimulating the nerves in the amputee’s stump. The nerves can then provide sensory feedback to the patients in real time – almost like they do in a natural hand
[HT]