A Sensorimotor Prosthesis for the Upper Limb

The finger and fingertip are the most frequently amputated body parts, due to work-related incidents. Yet because of space, weight and cost constraints, prosthetic fingers and fingertips are heavy and bulky with limited active motion and sensation. Most are basic variations on the hook and claw. Lower limb prostheses have become extremely technologically advanced in their design and materials, and upper limbs lag behind in all of these areas. This is due to the complexity of the anatomy and function of the upper limb compared to the lower. There are no commercially available prostheses that offers direct sensory feedback and as such, rely on visual feedback from the wearer. The original PROLIMB study (PROLIMB I) used a Leap Motion Controller (LMC) to investigate the type of grasp adaptation that have been undertaken by patients during the rehabilitation process following amputation and compared this to similar data from healthy volunteers. PROLIMB I also looked at refining the tactile feedback system by investigating the sensation felt on amputation sites in order to feed this information into the haptic feedback system. The vision of the PROLIMB II project is to build on the work completed in PROLIMB I and develop and combine mechanistic models of hand motion and haptic sensing to deliver novel, affordable body-powered prosthetic fingertip digits with enhanced motion and sensation to address current clinical needs and support the quality of life of amputees. With collaboration from the University of Warwick (UoW) and University College London (UCL), Steeper Group and Naked Prosthetics the PROLIMB II study will aim to model, design, fabricate and validate a body-powered prosthetic fingertip digit with integrated sensory feedback. The University Hospital Coventry \& Warwickshire (UHCW) will provide the clinical facility with which to assess the comfort, usability and acceptance of this prosthetic in the daily lives of patients with digit amputations. This project w