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Competitive prosthetic action - compare movement and function

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keiron added to Prosthetics...

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Posted on September 21, 2008 Current new developments in hand prosthetics are the iLimb (TouchBionics) and the Michelangelo hand (Otto Bock). Both are termed bionic hands. As these could be seen as very attractive, emotionally... See more » Posted on September 21, 2008 Current new developments in hand prosthetics are the iLimb (TouchBionics) and the Michelangelo hand (Otto Bock). Both are termed bionic hands. As these could be seen as very attractive, emotionally appealing and extremely expensive, they are a fascinating subject to examine. One thing that amazes me is the obvious discrepancy between the feelings of the wearer (inside) and the feelings of the person watching the wearer (outside): when watching someone else wearing it from the outside, the iLimb - as I felt - looked artificial, stiff, slow, performed extremely loudly and to me appeared to be rather annoying, just as a car with a defective exhaust when seeing someone else wear it. Yet, operating it myself sucked me into a dream world of simulated hand function that I viewed entirely differently and it put a wide smile on my face. Seeing someone else smile at their own iLimb and witnessing the obvious discrepancy between its artifical appearance, slow and very restricted funtionality and noisiness on one hand, and the smile it put on the wearer on the other hand, then completed a rather distressing experience to me. It is then the question why am I wearing a prosthesis? I won’t spend 60′000 CHF (the cost of the iLimb hand including the prosthetic socket et cetera) of my own money just to get someone tap my shoulder in a grocery store saying, “congratulations to your fine prosthesis, one can hardly see at all that it is an arfiticial limb”. I wear it to show to others that I am willing to fake having a hand, I wear it for sheer functionality. I’d wear one as fashion statement but for that, a self-funded 60K$ hand necessarily must combine computing and programming options of a top-of-the-line workstation (available for 8K$), the mechanical properties of a luxury class car (40K$), the stability and ease of handling of a Bosch drill hammer (0.8K$) *and* the battery / energy functionality of a top-of-the-line laptop (available for 8K$). The hook relaxes people as they see within a mile against the wind that I am missing a part, that there’s a standard item to replace some of it, and it is also one reliable piece of hardware. The fluency and immediacy in motion is extremely good for my hook or mechanical hand. An experienced physiotherapist told me to go for a body powered prosthesis if only for that reasons - and stick with it for a couple of years. He said that only then will I grow into using it so much that I will really be able to rely on its advantages. The argument of fluency and immediacy becomes apparent when comparing the iLimb in its respective appearances on YouTube, and my hook in the following videos. In response to TouchBionics “get a grip on functionality” demo videos http://www.touchbionics.com/professionals.php?pageid=44&section=5 I recorded similar activities using the Otto Bock MovoHook 2Grip for 1:1 comparison. My evaluation bases on my current personal requirements as a right below elbow amputee. Recently, detailed accounts of iLimb usage by Darin Sargent (see: theadventuresoftheilimb.wordpress.com) highlight activities such as reading a newspaper or working in the kitchen. Interesting, but adequate for the relatively high cost? Price definitely plays a role in prosthetics. So is relevant to note that my current setup (Otto Bock parts, two MovoHook 2Grip 10A80 hooks, one System hand voluntary opening, cable controlled socket with rapid swap mechanism, all parts pimped for optimal performance) costs a mere fraction of a prosthesis featuring the iLimb by TouchBionics. Comparison of the prices for terminal devices (iLimb hand: around 45′000 CHF (not covered by insurance); Otto Bock system hand: about 800 CHF; Otto Bock hook: about 1′200 CHF - prosthetic arm with iLimb hand: around 60′000 CHF, prosthetic arm using body powered technology: around 6′000 CHF) shows that we are dealing with extreme differences in prosthetic cost. Now, I like to be able to smoothly and without much technological overhead work through technical situations by wearing a contextually intelligent solution on See less »

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Competitive prosthetic action - compare movement and function

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