Electronic skin will one day help amputees regain dexterity and let them feel the touch of their loved ones.

Electronic skin will one day help amputees regain dexterity and let them feel the touch of their loved ones.

“The human hand has 17,000 touch sensors that help us pick things up and connect us to the physical world. A prosthetic hand or foot has no feeling at all.

Zhenan Bao hopes to change that by wrapping prosthetics with electronic skin that can sense pressure, heal when cut, and process sensory data. It’s a critical step toward prosthetics that one day could be wired to the nervous system to deliver a sense of touch. Even before that is possible, soft yet grippy electronic skin would let amputees and burn victims do more everyday tasks like picking up delicate objects—and possibly help alleviate phantom-limb pain…”

#future = #REALnews #health #medicine #medtech #wellness #tech #innovation #science #design #biotech #biology #singularity #engineering #ai #artificialintelligence #robots #automation

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602092/how-to-give-fake-hands-real-feeling/

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602092/how-to-give-fake-hands-real-feeling/