Bionic hand wins top tech prize

From BBC News...

The world's most advanced, commercially available, bionic hand has won the UK's top engineering prize. The i-LIMB, a prosthetic device with five ndividually powered digits, beat three other finalists to win this year's MacRobert award...

...The complex device finally went on sale in July 2007. It is produced by a company called Touch Bionics based in Mid Calder, Livingston. "It's such a fantastic invention," Ray Edwards, a quadruple amputee and one of the first people in the UK to be fitted with the device, told BBC News. "When the arm was put on, I had tears rolling down my face. It was the first time in 21 years that I had seen a hand open. "I can do a thumbs-up, I can hold a pen and I can do many things that I ouldn't do before..."

...The firm is now looking to improve the design of the i-Limb as well as expanding its range of smart prosthetics. "We are working a full-arm system - we have a prototype wrist, elbow and shoulder," said Mr. (Stuart) Mead.