An amputee was able to feel smoothness and roughness in real-time with an artificial fingertip that was
surgically1 connected to nerves in his upper arm. Moreover, the nerves of non-amputees can also be
stimulated2 to feel roughness, without the need of surgery, meaning that prosthetic touch for amputees can now be developed and safely tested on intact individuals. The technology to deliver this sophisticated
tactile3 information was developed by Silvestro Micera and his team at EPFL (Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) and SSSA (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna) together with Calogero Oddo and his team at SSSA. The results, published today in eLife, provide new and accelerated avenues for developing bionic prostheses, enhanced with
sensory4 feedback.
"The
stimulation5 felt almost like what I would feel with my hand," says amputee Dennis Aabo Sørensen about the artificial fingertip connected to his
stump6. He continues, "I still feel my missing hand, it is always
clenched7 in a fist. I felt the
texture8 sensations at the tip of the index finger of my
phantom9 hand."
Sørensen is the first person in the world to recognize texture using a bionic fingertip connected to electrodes that were surgically implanted above his stump.
Nerves in Sørensen's arm were wired to an artificial fingertip equipped with
sensors10. A machine controlled the movement of the fingertip over different pieces of plastic
engraved11 with different patterns, smooth or rough. As the fingertip moved across the
textured12 plastic, the sensors generated an electrical signal. This signal was translated into a series of electrical
spikes13, imitating the language of the nervous system, then delivered to the nerves.
Sørensen could distinguish between rough and smooth surfaces 96% of the time.
In a previous study, Sorensen's
implants14 were connected to a sensory-enhanced prosthetic hand that allowed him to recognize shape and softness. In this new publication about texture in the journal eLife, the bionic fingertip
attains15 a superior level of touch resolution.