Touch Bionics Unveils World's First Bionic Finger

For many years, losing a limb or a finger meant that you simply went the rest of your life with a ridged non-articulating prosthetic limb at best. If a finger was lost the person never really had a chance to get the dexterity lost back, which could mean a significant impact to the quality of life the person lived.

A company called Touch Bionics has unveiled the world's first bionic finger that promises to give people who have lost fingers back part of the dexterity that they lost allowing them to pick things up and hold items again. The loss of a finger or thumb can make little things like feeding yourself or holding a phone impossible.

The new Prodigits bionic fingers replace the natural fingers with articulating powered prosthetic fingers. Patients are able to control the fingers and many have been able to hold things and pick up small objects. The ProDigits fingers are powered by either myoelectric sensors that register muscle signals from the residual finger or palm or a pressure sensitive switch from a force resistive sensor.