Immaculate prosthetic limb concept makes combines fun again, discusses the invention of the Immaculate prosthetic limbs. A jewelry designer, Hans Alexander Huseklepp, stylized the Immaculate artificial limb to appear non-human like to avoid the uneasiness of the Uncanny Valley phenomenon with artificial limbs.
The article Like Humans, Monkeys Fall Into The 'Uncanny Valley', discusses the study of monkeys' reactions when shown images of other monkeys. Some of the images resembled real monkeys; some images did not resemble monkeys and the other images sort of resembled real monkeys. The real monkeys were frightened by the less than real images and quickly ran away from them.
Practice Makes Perfect: Learning Mind Control of Prosthetics, discusses the study of using monkeys' brains to map neural processors for movement of their limbs. Sensors are embedded into the brain and a map is made based upon the electrical activity of neurons as animals are completing motor tasks. The application of this technology would benefit humans with prosthetics that would allow for fluid effortless control of their limbs.
It is called SmartHand and uses myoelectrial signals in the form of electrodes to move the motors in the prosthetic hand. The SmartHand is unique because of the sensory feedback the amputee is receiving. There are sensors on each finger that communicate with the muscles in the forearm which stimulate the brain to move the fingers of the prosthetic hand. The article discusses that the ultimate goal of SmartHand is to attach a neural network connection directly to the artificial hand through sensors.
Fluidhand is made of hydraulics that allows the wearer to move each finger independently. The prosthetic hand has flexible joints of the fingers and sensors in the palm and fingertips that communicate with the nerves in the stump. This allows for amputee to feel how strong to grip items and provides more natural movements similar to a real hand.