Prosthetic Hand Isn’t Electric, But Performs Just Like It Is

I’d rather have a hook if I lost my hand in some sort of freak accident, but realise that’s not exactly conducive to typing. Rather than chucking in the tech-blogging for piracy, Mark Stark’s prosthetic hand is a worthy alternative.

Awarded a place in PopSci’s 2011 Innovation Awards, Stark’s prosthetic hand combines three of the most common types of prostheses – hooks, cosmetic hands and electronic hands. His model has five fingers with three knuckles each, and can grasp objects with ease.

It works by plugging onto the user’s arm, with the user having to simply shrug his shoulders, which in turn pulls one or all five cables that controls the hand. Because of the three “knuckles” in each finger (and two in the thumb), the fingers curl around an object easily, with the springs creating pressure on the object to hold it still.

While Stark’s invention isn’t available for amputees yet, it’s on the way to becoming a commercial reality, with Edison Nation helping Stark licence it to a prosthetics company. [PopSci]