Researchers at the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University have developed a new type of interface that can simulate the sense of touch from 20 spots on a prosthetic hand.
The interface works by directly stimulating peripheral nerve bundles in the arms of patients. The interface, a cuff electrode, holds three nerve bundles in the arm –radial, median and ulnar –and gently flattens them to make a rectangular configuration maximizing the surface area. 20 electrodes on the three cuffs deliver electrical signals to the nerve fibers.
