The Adam’s Hand technology opens up new possibilities for those who live with an upper limb amputation thanks to its features and functionality.
One of the innovative features of our device is definitely the intuitive thumb rotation. It allows a truly unrivalled control and versatility of the device, offering to the patients a great autonomy and freedom of movements performing their daily activities.
As simple as revolutionary technology
We have already talked in the previous article about one of the most innovative features of our device: the natural and intuitive control of Adam’s Hand, which allows the patient to grasp objects of different shapes, materials and weights in a very simple and precise way.
There are many challenges that upper limb amputees face controlling a multi-articulating prosthesis. For example, many devices currently available on the market require muscular contractions – necessary to open and close the device – or other specific contractions to activate the rotation of the thumb.
This complicates the control of the device itself.
Other devices allow the patient to rotate the thumb by dragging it with the contralateral hand, but they often use unstable frictions, which don’t ensure firm position of the thumb.
For this reason it can happen that the objects fall, when the patient grasps them, because of the involuntary movement of the thumb.
On the other hand, if the thumb friction is set with higher values, in order for the thumb to be less influenced by external forces, it may happen that when the patient tries to reposition it, the whole hand rotates, through the passive movement of quick disconnect wrist joint.
Adam’s Hand has been designed to overcome this limit, allowing an easy and safe thumb rotation.
How the intuitive thumb rotation works
To simplify the thumb control of the Adam’s Hand, its rotation movement is not activated by muscle contractions: the patients can change the thumb position by grabbing at the orange dot, lifting it up (1), rotating it to the desired position (2) and then releasing it (3).
This way, the patients obtain at the same time:
• a much more stable grip when the thumb is in position, so that heavy objects do not slip;
• a high ease of rotation, after lifting the thumb and before repositioning it, so that the patient is always able to rotate the thumb without the risk of rotating of the whole hand.
The thumb has three selectable positions:
A. lateral position, when opposed to the side of the index finger.
B. tridigital position, when opposed to index and middle fingers.
C. intermediate position, when it is in an intermediate position between the two previous ones.
The mechanism we developed allows the thumb to be rotated even without using the contralateral limb, but simply by bringing it into contact with any surface.
This control is therefore extremely simple even for patients with bilateral amputation.
Your freedom at your fingertips!
An innovative technology is not made of complexity. On the contrary, the ease of use is central for the development of a device that intends to improve patients’ approach to the world around them.
Thanks to this characteristic, the patients can get many benefits for the quality of their life, for many aspects: greater autonomy and adaptability, precision and dexterity in gripping an object and a better interaction with the external interface.
In fact, the intuitive thumb rotation allows you to carry out a wide range of daily activities in a more effective and natural way, adapting the device to the specific needs of the actions the patient intends to perform – even the most complex ones or those which require a great precision (holding a very small or very delicate object, cutting with scissors or holding a knife, tying your shoes, etc.).
To conclude, the intuitive thumb rotation represents a concrete innovation because it reduces the need to adjust the device to grip patterns that require many steps, time and effort for the patient which uses the Adam’s Hand.
Thanks to the continuous improvement of R&D activities, we are living an increasingly promising future, where the main characteristic underlying the most innovative technology becomes simplicity itself.
Do you want to discover the other features of the Adam’s Hand that make our device a highly innovative and unique product of its kind?
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