Giving Artificial Hands a Sense of Touch
From: Machine Design - 09/09/2010 - page 50
By: Stephen J. Mraz

Biomedical engineers struggle to give prosthetic hands a sense of touch. 

Advancements in artificial arms and hands rarely make it out of the
laboratory due to costs or impracticality. And there often seems to be more
research than developments in marketable prosthetics. But the Defense
Department, dedicated to ensuring wounded service members get the best
possible treatment, is using its clout and its own Skunk Works, the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), to remedy this situation. It
assembled some of the world's best engineers and scientists, along with a
host of innovative companies and universities, to push the boundaries in
prosthetics. 

As part of the Darpa project, engineers at kinea design llc, Evanston, IL,
were tasked with devising an approach that provides wearers with more sensory
information, including contact pressure, friction, texture, and temperature.  

Read the entire article at:
http://machinedesign.com/article/giving-artificial-hands-a-sense-of-touch-0909

Links:
Deka Research and Development Corp.
http://www.dekaresearch.com/

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
http://www.jhuapl.edu/

kinea design llc
http://www.kineadesign.com/

Kinea Design Develops Sensorized Biomechatronic Technology (video)
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/12/prweb3040064.htm