Bionic Hand Grabs MacRobert Award

NEWS TRENDS

The team responsible for developing the first commercially available bionic hand has been given the 2008 MacRobert Award for innovation in engineering.

The i-LIMB Hand, developed by Touch Bionics (Middletown, NY), is a prosthetic device made of high-strength plastic material with five individually powered digits. The firm sees the product's multiarticulating finger technology as the key to its success. Combined with advanced electronic and mechanical engineering techniques, the team was able to develop a lightweight, robust prosthetic that appeals to patients and caregivers.

“We are over the moon to have won the 2008 MacRobert Award, which is a huge honor for any engineering-oriented company,” says Touch Bionics CEO Stuart Mead.

First presented in 1969, the MacRobert Award is sponsored by the London-based Royal Academy of Engineering. It recognizes the successful development of innovative ideas in engineering.

The i-LIMB Hand was introduced to the market in 2007. Since its launch, more than 250 patients worldwide have been fitted with the device. It is the second medical device to earn the MacRobert Award in the past five years; the other was a retinal scanning device developed by Optos plc that was awarded in 2006.

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