Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Thursday July 13 2017, @07:14AM   Printer-friendly
from the Little-Jack-Horner-Approved dept.

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

Dani Clode is a grad student at London's Royal College of Art (RCA) and her latest creation is something called The Third Thumb: a 3D-printed prosthetic that does exactly what its name suggests....

Dani Clode is a grad student at London's Royal College of Art (RCA) and her latest creation is something called The Third Thumb: a 3D-printed prosthetic that does exactly what its name suggests. "The origin of the word 'prosthesis' meant 'to add, put on to,' so not to fix or replace, but to extend," Clode told Dezeen. "The Third Thumb is inspired by this word origin, exploring human augmentation and aiming to reframe prosthetics as extensions of the body."

It's absolutely unnecessary stuff, and I love it.

The thumb straps on to the side of your hand, and connects to a bracelet containing wires and servos. The wearer controls it using pressure sensors that sit under the soles of their feet. If they press down with one foot the thumb will make a grasping movement, with these instructions sent to the wrist unit via Bluetooth. It sounds a bit fiddly, but Clode says people pick it up pretty quickly. It's no more complex than, say, steering a car and operating the brake and accelerator at the same time.

I doubt it will catch on, but I think it's interesting. Human augmentation of any type may be fraught with perils (and not generally condoned by society) but I still think the topic is fascinating fodder for both science and science fiction.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/7/6/15927362/3d-printed-prosthetic-third-thumb-dani-clode


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday July 13 2017, @12:04PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday July 13 2017, @12:04PM (#538667)

    Third eye sounds much more useful, though we already have a lot of this with surveillance cameras...

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2