Photo: EPFL Caillet
New technology is allowing amputees to feel temperature—even in limbs that are no longer part of their bodies. Fingertip sensors allow an ordinary prosthetic hand to sense and respond to temperature like a living hand, by delivering thermal information to nerve areas on the amputee’s residual limb that the brain believes are still connected to the missing hand. The MiniTouch, a thin, wearable sensor that slips over an existing prosthetic finger and links to points on the residual limb’s skin, requires no surgery and can be fitted to existing commercial prosthetic hands in a matter of hours.
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