Medical Technology Leads To Robotic Hand

It's certainly a breakthrough for medicine. We're not quite at replacing an entire hand like how it happened for Luke Skywalker but important nonetheless!

Excerpt from Dallas News (link above):

"An Italian who lost his left forearm in a car crash was successfully linked to a robotic hand, allowing him to feel sensations and control the artificial limb with his thoughts, scientists said Wednesday.


During a one-month experiment last year, 26-year-old Pierpaolo Petruzziello said, it felt like his lost arm had grown back again, although the robotic hand was attached to his body only with electrodes.

"It's a matter of mind, of concentration," Petruzziello said. "When you think of it as your hand and forearm, it all becomes easier."

Though similar experiments have been successful before, the scientists who led the project say this was the first time a patient has been able to make such complex movements using his mind to control a biomechanic hand connected to his nervous system.

The Italy-based team said at a news conference Wednesday that it implanted electrodes into the nerves in what remained of Petruzziello's left arm, which was cut off in a crash some three years ago.

The prosthetic was not implanted on the patient, only connected through the electrodes. During the news conference, video was shown of Petruzziello as he concentrated to give orders to the hand placed next to him."