TEHRAN (ANA)- A technological unit stationed at Islamic Azad University’s Shabestar branch in Northwestern Iran succeeded in achieving a new technology capable of helping people with amputated fingers with a body-controlled finger prosthesis.
“The activity of our technological unit is focused on designing and manufacturing body-controlled finger prosthesis and it can be used for those who have lost one or more fingers in work accidents or other incidents,” Nasser Babayee, a manager of the technological unit, told ANA.
“These prostheses can be designed and manufactured for one or more amputated fingers, and they simply take the movement from the healthy part of the person's finger and allow the movement of the finger's mechanical ligaments with a mechanical articulation mechanism without any need to special operations,” he added.
Noting that titanium metal or stainless steel is used to make the mechanical parts and joints of the prosthesis, Babayee said, “The finger part is made of polymer or composite material, and the prosthesis is made based on the dimensions and the level of amputation of the person's fingers, and it is connected to the hand with special strips of fibers.”
In a relevant development in July, researchers of a knowledge-based company in Iran had also ucceeded in making an exoskeleton robot, ‘Exopad’, to help disabled people walk.
“At present, the sixth version of the exoskeleton robot has been made and is available to the disabled people,” said Zahra Ramezani, a biomechanics expert at the knowledge-based company stationed at the Science and Technology Park of Tarbiat Modarres University.
“The robot has been designed for people with spinal cord injury or spinal cord amputation, people with MS, CP and in general disabled people who are unable to move,” she added.
“A remote control device has been mounted on the robot and the walking parameters can be controlled by the disabled person,” Ramezani said.
She said that people who suffer from inactivity face problems like bedsores, muscle blood circulation problems, workplace infections, and bone loss, noting that the robot physically helps to make these people less prone to the secondary consequences of not moving.
The exoskeleton is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to an internal skeleton (endoskeleton) in for example, a human. In usage, some of the larger kinds of exoskeletons are known as ‘shells’.
Source: ANA