Southampton Researchers Develop ‘clever’ Hand
December 30, 2006 – 1:59 pm | posted in IT / Internet / E-mail, Medical DevicesResearchers at the University of Southampton have built a prototype of a prosthetic hand with some of the functionality and movement of a real one.
Just 12 months after the ‘Southampton Remedi-Hand’ was lost in the fire which destroyed the University’s Mountbatten building, Professor Neil White, Dr Paul Chappell, Dr Andy Cranny and Darryl Cotton at the University’s School of Electronics & Computer Science (ECS) have come up with a new ‘hand’ which not only mimics the motion of a human hand, but also has ’senses’.
Dr Chappell has spent several years developing the ‘Southampton Remedi-Hand’. Increasing the number of grasping patterns and improving the sensory feedback from an object in the hand became key objectives of his research.
‘The last few decades have produced significant improvements in the design of upper limb prostheses’, comments Dr Chappell. ‘But up to now, there have been limits in terms of sensory touch and movement.’
Professor White’s work on developing sensors for the electronics industry has enabled him to develop multiple sensors to apply to the ‘hand’ to increase the functional grasping patterns.
‘We need multiple sensors in a hand to mimic the natural processes as far as possible’, comments Professor White. ‘In the past, cost has been an issue in the development of prosthetic limbs, particularly upper limbs, but we have found a way to add multiple senses using low cost technology.’
The researchers have applied piezo-electric sensors to each of the five fingertips which will detect how much force is being exerted on the tip and will translate this information into an electrical signal which will be fed to a small processor.
Dr Chappell said: ‘We have created a hand with increased functionality and with a sense of touch. This will let the hand know how tightly to grip an object like a coffee cup without dropping it, but not so tightly that it’s crushed. It will also have an integrated slip-sensor which will tell the hand if something is beginning to slip out of its grip so it can grip slightly harder.’
– Further information about the Southampton-Remedi Hand
With around 500 researchers, and 900 undergraduate students, the School of Electronics and Computer Science at Southampton is one of the world’s largest and most successful integrated research groupings, covering Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electronics, and Electrical Engineering. ECS has unrivalled depth and breadth of expertise in world-leading research, new developments and their applications.
The University of Southampton is a leading UK teaching and research institution with a global reputation for leading-edge research and scholarship. It is one of the UK’s top 10 research universities, offering first-rate opportunities and facilities for study and research across a wide range of subjects in humanities, health, science and engineering. The University has around 20,000 students and over 5000 staff. Its annual turnover is in the region of £310 million.
The University is one of the country’s top institutions for engineering, computer science and medicine, and has a strong enterprise agenda. It is home to a range of world-leading research centres, including the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, the Optoelectronics Research Centre, the Centre for the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, and the Mountbatten Centre for International Studies.
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