Swiss and Italian researchers succeeded for the first time in helping an amputee to feel the temperature of objects with his artificial hand.
These researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Italian School of Advanced Studies have built a device called “Mini Touch” equipped with a temperature sensor during a joint project.
This device is installed on the artificial hand and when it senses the change in temperature, it transmits the information to another part of the device that is installed on the person’s arm.
By electrically stimulating the skin of the arm, this section induces the same temperature sensation in that area so that the person feels that he has felt the temperature with his artificial hand.
To test this device, it was installed on the artificial hand of a 57-year-old man named Fabrizio, whose right hand was amputated below the elbow.
The results indicated that he could differentiate between cold, hot and normal water bottles with 100% accuracy.
Professor Shakur, the project’s senior researcher, says the device will help amputees detect whether an object is dangerously hot or not. It also allows them to distinguish between different materials.
