Xinhua
21st October 2021
Chinese medical researchers develop AI hand to aid disabled
Editor：Xue Lingqiao
An artificial intelligent hand has been developed by a Beijing-based medical team, which can help disabled people in simple jobs like unbuttoning clothes and lifting a cup.
Unlike traditional artificial limbs, the wearable bionic hand, with signal sensors tracking morphological skin changes, can collect signals of finger movement intention transmitted through muscles. These signals are then sent via skin to the bionic fingers, especially the thumb, to realize the movement intention of the fingers, said Yang Yong, a senior surgeon from Beijing Jishuitan Hospital who is the team leader of this project.
To better control the "fingers," the patient wearing the artificial hand needs to undergo a surgery named the muscle redistribution technique (MRT) to redistribute the key muscles of the remaining part of the patient's disabled arm, said Yang.
The key muscles will be sutured into the skin so that the finger movement signals of the muscles can make morphological skin changes, which are then collected by the sensors on the skin surface. The bionic fingers, combined with the electromyographic signals of the forearm, can then make corresponding movements, Yang added.
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