Touch Bionics expands range of robotic hands

Touch Bionics said the i-digits device is the first of its kind to change grips with a simple gesture

The Livingston-based business, which was spun out from NHS Scotland in 2003, said the i-digits quantum device – introduced at the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA) national assembly in San Antonio, Texas – is the first partial hand prosthesis that can change grips with a simple gesture.

Chief executive Ian Stevens said: “With newly redesigned componentry and digits for ease of fabrication, the new partial hand combines streamlined styling and considerably enhanced functionality.

“It is smarter, faster, stronger and smaller than its predecessors. i-digits wearers can quickly utilise the many grips available through the activation of gesture control using our i-mo technology embedded in every i-digits quantum.”

An i-digits user, Moses Aramburo, added: “I particularly like the gesture control feature which enables me to quickly access many grips in performing everyday tasks. The new design is not only slimmer but also lighter allowing me to easily wear my prosthesis all day.”

Touch Bionics, backed by Scottish Enterprise and Archangel Investors, was founded by inventor David Gow after he joined the Princess Margaret Rose Hospital in Edinburgh where work had been carried out on developing prosthetic limbs for children affected by Thalidomide.

In August, a nine-year-old boy from Fife who was bullied at school for having only one hand became the first boy in the UK to be fitted with a child-size bionic hand, developed by Touch Bionics, that can be programmed with a smartphone app.