Thursday, 06 Nov, 2008 Technology

The first bionic hand in the world that was launched into the market is considered one of this year's top inventions. The developer of the i-LIMB hand is Touch Bionics, a company based in Livingston. Time magazine included the bionic hand in its list of top 50 innovations along with probably one of the ground breaking inventions of this century, Hadron Collider.

The invention was settled on the 14th place, surpassing NASA's Mars Exploration Rover.

It took the developers 20 years to create the i-LIMB. Each of the five fingers on the bionic hand works separately, which makes the invention more versatile than other artificial hands created earlier. It is worth mentioning that previously developed artificial limbs could perform only uncomplicated opening and closing motions, the company's official website reports.

The new invention can perform a wide range of actions. For example, the i-LIMB can perform a credit-card grip, being bale to hold narrow objects. In addition, the bionic hand has a power hold for bigger objects, such as, for instance, mugs.

One of the key features is the material from which the bionic hand is made of, i.e. high-strength plastics, which make the i-LIMB lightweight, robust and highly appealing to patients. Developers made it possible for the fingers to be unscrewed from the hand, so it would be easier to service. Previous artificial hands had to be completely removed in case they broke, which was rather uncomfortable since the amputees had to wait for weeks until their prosthetic hand is fixed.

Since the launch of the device, over 400 amputees benefited from the new bionic hand, which was characterized by Stuart Mead, the CEO of Touch Bionics, as one of the company's greatest accomplishments. He was very honored with fact that the i-LIMB was listed in Time magazine along with many incredible inventions of 2008.