Bionic human parts have always remained in the realm of science fiction for many years, but this has already changed in this particular century. A bunch of EU researchers have been working hard to deliver sense to senseless prostheses, which would be the next step up in the right direction. In fact, this very same group of researchers have spent an entire month in testing out this unique prostheses on a subject in order to give his sense of touch back. How is this made possible? Well, a series of electrodes have been implanted into the two main nerve bundles in test subject Dennis Sørensen’s left upper arm, and it was left there for a month. After that, Sørensen has been fitted with a special sensor-laden prosthetic hand, and specially developed algorithms will feed off that data to know how it will stimulate those nerves.
This allows Sørensen to “feel” such objects in real-time, allowing him to discern the various shapes of objects that he picked up, allowing him to gain a sense of what they were made of too. This is still a long way off when it comes to portable models which will not require any kind of auxiliary support from a lab. The next step would be to check out whether one will be able to incorporate the sense of pressure when it comes to gripping objects.
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