The iHand

July 25, 2007

I have to confess that iPods, iPhones, iThis, iThat… really don’t excite me that much.  Yeah, they’re sorta cool, but, “meh.”

Then there’s the iLimb, a bionic hand under development that will use a traditional muscle signal interface to produce dexterous action.  It’s intended to be a production, off-the-shelf technology in a price range that people will actually be able to afford it.  video clip and more details.

Ok, now that’s really cool.  Aside from the egregious use of the initial lower-case “i” for their product name, but I think we can forgive them that.

And here’s another project to develop a brain interface to ratchet up the dexterity to an even more natural level, like playing a piano.  (“Doc, will I be able to play the piano after this operation?…”)

One thought that comes to mind; they should use a wireless interface so they don’t need anything protruding through the skin.  Besides, it would allow the user to control the hand even when it was detached from their arm, which would give nieces and nephews nightmares…