Local man invents the first non-robotic prosthetic finger

I dont know about you all, but this seems like a huge breakthrough in the field of prosthetics. In the past, amputees have had to deal with unwieldy bulky replacememt limbs, which have previously been powered by something other than the recipient themselves.

Now a man has created a fully functional prosthetic which works off the power of the human body. Take a look at the video and realize how big this actually is.


Video of prosthetic finger in action

Full article on non-robotic prosthetic finger

To start with, it doesn't require any batteries, as it uses the force of the body's own muscles. They are activated "by moving the residual finger when available, or the opposing finger when needed."

Thanks to its artificial tensors and the articulation's design, moving the residual fingers triggers a natural motion on its artificial phalanges, making it look as you are flexing a real finger. This means that the X-Fingers can be controlled independently, giving you a grip that is strong enough to do almost every normal task.

That is amazing! I can see this really helping those who have lost fingers. People like my uncle, for instance, who lost a finger on a saw in a mill thirty years ago, will benefit from this.

I especially like how simple the device is. No electronics, no batteries, nothing but a simple metal and plastic device. I didn't see a price tag in your link, but this has to sell for cheap. The main cost will be to recoup the inventor's research efforts, which means that once he covers that, he can drop the price a lot, though it will probably be expensive at first.

I don't know whether this tech can be extended to much more than fingers; for example, I don't think this would work with a full arm or leg, but even so, it is a remarkable breakthrough.