The i-limb ultra revolution prosthetic hand has lots of cool features: a powered rotating thumb, biosim mobile control app with instant acess to 24 Quick Grip™ patterns and upgraded control software.
(i-Limb ultra revolution)
With the i-limb ultra revolution, your prosthesis offers more dexterity and moves more like a natural hand than any other powered prosthetic hand. Each finger bends at the natural joints so that it can accurately adapt to fit around the shape of the object you want to grasp.
Choose from a wide selection of automated grips and gestures to help you complete your daily tasks, such as index point for typing, precision pinch mode for gripping small objects or natural hand position for walking or while at rest.
Utilizing its pulsing and vari-grip features, the i-limb ultra revolution provides the ability to gradually increase the strength of its grip on an object. This can be very useful in situations where a firmer grasp is required, such as tying shoelaces tightly or holding a heavy bag more securely.
Robert Heinlein gave science fiction fans an early description of a robotic hand in his 1956 novel The Door Into Summer; in the novel, the hands are intended for robots, not humans, though.
Philip K. Dick wrote about robotic hands for people early on - see the entry for his robotic surgeon hand from his 1955 short story War Veteran.
The closest match to the i-limb might well be the interchangeable hands from his 1965 novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.
Science fiction readers are grateful to sf authors for imagining this technology a generation ago. Consider the robotic hand that Luke Skywalker gets in Star Wars (1977) after an argument with his father.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
Nano-Chainmail 2D Mechanically Interlocked Polymer
'Nemourlon armor of reasonable weight resists penetration by most fragments and any bullet that is not both reasonably heavy and fairly high-velocity.'
Humans Love Helping Other Species
'At the ringside opposite them a table had been removed to make room for a large transparent plastic capsule on wheels.'