Idaho State University working on realistic artificial hands for veterans

Idaho State University has received an $842,000 grant from the Department of Defense to develop a prosthetic hand that, rather than simply being attached, will be implanted and provide a sense of touch and temperature sensation by converting impulses sent to and from the brain.

"The existing commercial technology for arm and hand amputees hasn’t changed significantly in the past six decades," said D. Subbaram Naidu, an engineering professor at the school who is leading the project. "The Department of Defense is embarking on a research program to fund prosthetic research to revolutionize upper-body prosthetics and to develop artificial arms that will feel, look and perform like a real human arm guided by the central nervous system."

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