US EditionBionic Hand Given AI ‘Mind of Its Own’ to Improve Life of Amputees
The prosthetic hand uses AI and sensors to improve grip precision, reducing mental effort for users, with nearly 50% of prosthesis users abandoning due to control difficulties, researchers said.
- University of Utah researchers at the Utah NeuroRobotics Lab outfitted a TASKA Prosthetics commercial hand with pressure-sensitive fingertips and optical proximity sensors, integrating an artificial neural network to improve control and dexterity.
- Facing a lack of tactile feedback in commercial bionic arms, the Utah team addressed prosthesis users' cognitive burden by adding pressure and proximity sensors plus AI to mimic subconscious brain models guiding grasping.
- By training an artificial neural network on proximity and posture data, the team equipped each digit with optical proximity sensors and pressure-sensitive fingertips to detect light touches like a weightless cotton ball.
- The published study showed amputee participants completed everyday tasks such as picking up small objects and raising a cup using the AI-powered prosthesis with greater grip precision and less mental effort.
- The researchers caution that balancing human and machine control requires avoiding user 'fighting' while allowing autonomy, and Professor Jacob George leads the Utah NeuroRobotics Lab in exploring implanted neural interfaces and thought-based control to enhance amputees' quality of life.
39 Articles
39 Articles
University of Utah engineers have managed to build a prosthesis that has "own mind" while "collaborating with the patient" to catch fragile objects like a glass, paper or egg
Now, a team from the University of Utah (USA) Neuro Robotics Laboratory, led by researcher Marshall Trout, proposes a solution as simple as transformative: a shared control system in which the prosthesis and the person cooperate continuously thanks to an AI model that guides the most delicate movements. The team has integrated proximity and pressure sensors into the buds of a commercial prosthetic hand (TASKA Hand). These sensors, capable even o…
University of Utah Engineers Give a Bionic Hand a Mind of Its Own
Newswise — Whether you’re reaching for a mug, a pencil or someone’s hand, you don’t need to consciously instruct each of your fingers on where they need to go to get a proper grip. The loss of that intrinsic ability is one of the many challenges people with prosthetic arms and hands face. Even with the most advanced robotic prostheses, these everyday activities come with an added cognitive burden as users purposefully open and close their finger…
AI-Powered Bionic Hand Restores Natural, Intuitive Grasping Ability
A new study shows that integrating artificial intelligence with advanced proximity and pressure sensors allows a commercial bionic hand to grasp objects in a natural, intuitive way—reducing cognitive effort for amputees. By training an artificial neural network on grasping postures, each finger could independently “see” objects and automatically move into the correct position, improving grip security and precision.
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