News Report #3

"Fingerprint study offers inspiration for robotics research"
Elizabeth Landau, CNN
2/3/09
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/03/fingerprints.study/index.html?eref=rss_tech

This news article discussed the possibilities in technology with the more information we learn about fingerprinting. As humans we can tell the difference between items like silk and paper and that is due to our fingerprints. The article says “studies have shown that humans can feel features about as small as the width of a human hair, roughly 200 micrometers.” With the advancement and knowledge about fingerprints, scientists are thinking of incorporating these findings into prosthetic hands. Professor Gerald Loeb has developed a device that mimics human skin and wants to put these imitations on prosthetic limbs. The hope is to have prosthetic limbs be as humanly as possible. Loeb wants the limbs to be able to feel an object's surface directly so that the user can consciously feel what the hand touches. A humans hand can feel when an item is slipping out of our grasp due to skin ridges signaling that the object is about to fall. Loeb also hopes that these sensors well help enhance that feeling in the prosthetic hand of the future. Loeb also has come up with an idea to have fingerprints incorporated into the robotic field as well. His idea suggests that a person would operate a robotic device remotely, but would receive or feel signals from a dangerous environment.

I think that technology advancement in this area is amazing. To be able to have something fake like a prosthetic hand actually be able to feel and recognize items like a regular person blows my mind. People that have to use prosthetic limbs or more specifically hands, should be very pleased with this advancement. If I had to use prosthetic limbs, I would jump on this item as soon as it hit the market if it could make me feel and sense things again. I can see this technology being very beneficial to our society.