People with amputated limbs who want a bionic prosthesis usually have to wait a long time for it to be made. In Britain, they developed a prosthesis that can be obtained within a couple of days after placing an order.
Impact Hand prosthesis was developed by a team of specialists from the University of Warwick and a number of private British companies, which were inspired by the invention of Ben Ryan, the founder of Ambionics startup. A team of engineers refined Ryan's design by adding electrical elements based on conductive silver ink that connect muscle sensors to motors and a battery, and also improved the look of the device.
In addition, the developers created a website so that customers could contact manufacturers, tell them the right sizes, choose a color and other personal parameters. A polymeric hand prosthesis will be printed on a 3D printer according to the size of the customer in 10 hours along with a moving thumb and all the built-in electronics, connected to sensors and drives, reports New Atlas.
When finished, the Impact prosthesis is activated when sensors connected to the muscles of the user's arm transmit a signal. Then the thumb moves either towards the palm of the hand or away from it, grabbing the object or releasing it, respectively.
The British government agency Innovative UK has allocated almost $ 1.2 million for the development of a bionic prosthesis. There is no information on how much the prosthesis costs or when it can be ordered.