Bionic hand allows amputee to feel again

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) – Dennis Aabo Sorensen lost his left hand when a firework rocket he was holding exploded during New Year’s Eve celebrations 10 years ago, and he never expected to feel anything with the stump again. But for a while last year he regained his sense of touch after being attached to a “feeling” bionic hand that allowed him to grasp and identify objects even when blindfolded. There is still work to be done in miniaturizing components and tidying away trailing cables that mean the robotic hand has so far only been used in the lab, but Sorensen said the European research team behind the project had got the basics right. Alastair Ritchie, a bioengineering expert at the University of Nottingham, who was not involved in the research, said the device was a logical next step but more clinical trials were now needed to confirm the system’s viability.