Bionic hand wins top science prize
The bionic hand has five individually-powered digits
Tuesday, 10, Jun 2008 12:33
A bionic hand that looks and acts like a real human hand has beaten other cutting-edge technology to win a top science award.
Touch Bionics, the inventors of the world's first commercially available bionic hand, was awarded the 2008 Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert prize at a ceremony in London last night.
The hand, named i-LIMB, is a prosthetic device that has five individually-powered digits.
Ray Edwards, a quadruple amputee who had the i-LIMB hand fitted a month ago, says it has changed his life.
"When I first looked down and saw the i-LIMB hand I just cried," he commented.
"i-LIMB has helped me more psychologically than physically. That was the first time in 21 years that I had seen a hand opening there - it made me feel I was just Ray again. You can do so much with technology but it's got to make the user happy - and i-LIMB does."
Since the launch of the hand in July 2007 over 200 patients have been fitted with the prosthesis worldwide.
Dr Geoff Robinson, chairman of the MacRobert award judging panel, said the iLIMB scored "very highly" on the selection criteria.
"Touch Bionics have fundamentally changed the benchmark for what constitutes an acceptable prosthesis," he added.
"Their approach to marketing, in what is universally acknowledged to be a difficult market to penetrate, showed a very high standard of focus, commitment and success.
"The social benefit for those involved must be obvious to everyone. Having tried it myself, I can vouch for the fact that it really does work in the way portrayed even if one is fortunate enough to still have one's own real hand alongside."
Runners-up for the award were Johnson Matthey, for their compact catalysed soot filter for diesel cars; Owlstone Ltd, for their 'dime'-sized chemical sensor on a silicon chip; and the Automation Partnership, for Polar, a new robotic system designed specifically for the UK Biobank - the world's leading programme to create a large-scale resource for medical research.
People keen to see the bionic hand will be able to do so at London's Science Museum from Thursday June 12th for three months.