It's amazing how fast technology advances.  Last summer, the Scottish company Touch Bionics, released the i-LIMB hand - the first prosthetic hand that enabled the movement of individual fingers by using five small, battery-powered motors that are embedded in each finger.  

Well, this summer sees the release of a new prosthetic hand, the Fluidhand.  According to its developers, the Fluidhand is lighter, behaves more naturally, and has greater flexibility than artificial hands that use motorized fingers. 

Developed by a team led by Stefan Schulz at the Research Center in Karlsrühe, in partnership with the Orthopedic University Hospital, in Heidelberg, Germany, the Fluidhand has flexible drives located in each of its finger joints, enabling the wearer to move each finger independently. Lightweight miniature hydraulics are connected to elastic chambers that can flex the joints of the fingers. As sensors on the fingers and palm close around objects, nerves in the amputation stump pick up muscular sensations so that the amputee can use a weaker or stronger grip. The prosthetic provides five different strengths of grip.

Traditional hand prostheses only enable the wearer to pinch the thumb and forefinger to create a grip.  However, there are several hand movements that require individual finger movements and the development of the Fluidhand, and the i-LIMB before it, are significant improvements in this regard.

In one test of the Fluidhand last September, an 18-year-old German man, who was born with only one hand, typed on a keyboard with both of his hands for the first time in his life.  According to German press reports, the test subject told reporters he doesn't feel handicapped anymore.

One patient is currently wearing the Fluidhand to complete daily tasks, and a second is about to be fitted for the device. Some 250 people, including soldiers wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq, already use i-LIMB.

Experts in the field expect prosthetic technologies to rapidly advance into the near future.

"I believe that there is a big push into wearable exoskeletons because the mechatronic technology has matured, becoming more cost effective, miniaturized, and powerful," says Thomas Sugar of Arizona State University, who works in robotic prosthetics. "Batteries and motors are smaller and more powerful. Microprocessors have been very fast and cheap. Lastly, I do think there has been a big push by NIH [National Institutes of Health] and the DOD [Department of Defense] into medical robots for stroke therapy, powered exoskeletons, and powered prosthetics."