Bionic

Haha, are you my long lost twin?

I had to look up images of that lol

True story! In 2007 I actually was chosen by my arm office to be a beta tester for Touch Bionics ILimb fully articulating hand. Touch Bionics contacted my arm office asking if they had anyone in mind who would be willing to give honest input, and advice on their ILimb hand. I was asked, and obviously happily agreed. So we built an arm, the flesh tone arm in chainsaw pics...i broke that hand NUMEROUS times, I gave input, and common sense ideas for the way the hand was to be put together. They mounted the individual fingers to a plastic palm, with tiny screws, well the fingers would pull out of the palm bucket, it would pull the screws clear out of the little plastic threads...stupid. i suggested metal, they said too heavy....i said it has to be, if you pick up, or pull say a fridge door open, all that stress is on those chinsey plastic threads, so i suggested titanium....i was told too expensive. Well about a year later when the next version was offered, sure enough titanium frame like i suggested. Even the wires to the thumb were ridiculous, they routed the wires so they would bunch up, every time the thumb was rotated, and after a while they would break at the solder joint. I received 3 free ILimb hands from them from 2007-2010 ish. They had me speak to people in Manhatten, Ohio, King of Prussia, PA, and locally. They would send a lincoln town car to drive the girlfriend, and I, pay for dinners, and hotel rooms. It was a blast, this is part of the forunate events I have been offered, that i refer to.

A lot of the tech is unseen, or unable to be appreciated by people who do not wear them. My arm setup seems basically compared to other hands, but it is in the movements, the smoothness of the finger mpvements, etc. I can move this hand so slowly, that you can hear the gears meshing basically. Some hands cannot even process such slow signals to it, and will move in incriments, because it gets confused in a way. Never been on a plane lol. At concerts, or government builds, and such or stadiums, I make sure the arm is obvious. I have had them verify with the handheld that its JUST the arm tripping the detectors.

Not a problem at all, my pleasure! It truly has become second nature, it helps that I have been doing this for over 25 yrs. All same 2 muscles. My parents taught me at approximately 3 yrs old how to use the electrodes with muscles. They said it was hours and hours trying to get me to focus lol

They have access to hydro dipping, it tends to chip from what I am under the impression of, and have seen. If I go with anything with a smooth surface, I can always get vinyl wrap for bow season in camo, and blaze orange for rifle, things like that. I also want to start a youtube channel, as I had mentioned in camera threads, so I could letter up the arm in the channel name. I want to see if it can be built out of aluminum, like the tin man on wizard of oz

Carbon fiber is a thought, a lot of people use it, I like to be a bit different, but not sure yet. My work arm is full black carbon fiber, but it was supposed to be silver black regular carbon fiber.

I should also mention that these muscle sites are specific to each person. They takes tests that find sites on your skin that have the best muscle signal with least effort of the user, and you must be able to focus on that specific localized muscle site. Flexing along with other areas, can result in wrong hand movements, and could drop things with the hand, etc. You need to be able to hold said certain muscle for a few seconds or so at a time. Not as simple as it sounds, some really struggle with it, especially if they lost their limb, i was born missing, so I dont know any other muscles because this is how I learned.

Glad you are enjoying this as much as I am. Read the 2 posts above, if you have not. I am fine with any question, a silicone line rolls over my left arm, or "stump", cant stand that word but it is what it is. Silicone liner rolls over my stump like a sock on foot. The liner has windows cut out for the electrodes(muscle sensors), and a pin with teeth is integrated into the end of the liner, when you insert your stump into the prosthetic, the pin clicks inti a mechanism inside the prosthetic arm. This liner is an exact fit, and must fit PERFECTLY. Too loose, and you can get air bubbles inside the liner, too tight, and you will turn purple at the end or your stump, like a hickey. Also, too tight will fatigue your muscles to the point, you literally lose all strength of your muscles within the liner, temporarily until its removed.

Read above post, forgot to qoute you also.

Glad you're enoying it. That is why I felt this would be a change of pace for people to read, I am very experienced in this, but still learn, and hear about tech stuff that is still amazing to me. It seems as if this tech field is just simple not talked about in the world. As far as operation of the hand, and electronic wrist.... There are multiple variations of how to control myoepectric arms. My specific arms are all controlled identically to each other. If you look back on the last set of pics, the very bottom pic has that skeevy looking container-like socket...that is where my arm inserts with the previously mentioned liner. The 2 little rectangular pads with the metal on them, is what i use to operate the entire arm on. Those boxes are called "Electrodes". Electrodes pick up your muscle movements, they know when you flex, they know the strength in how hard/soft you flexed, and it gets sent to a microprocessor, and other electronics within the arm, that translates to the hand, and electronic wrist, just what its supposed to do. I will try to explain which muscles I use. Make a fist, then make a knocking on a door motion with your wrist, WITHOUT moving your arm, JUST your wrist move.....now watch the inside of that arm just below your INNER elbow(where bloods taken), and you can see a small area bulge each time you make you a knock motion. That muscle, is the one I use to open the hand, AND rotate the wrist in a counter clock-wise rotation. Yes, the SAME muscle, performs BOTH. This is where bluetooth tuning also comes into play with a laptop, to tune the arm/hand. Thresholds are setup where, to open the hand, that muscle is flexed UNDER a specific strength intensity, while the strength is slowly reached i believe its longer than a half second . To operate the wrist with that same muscle, you would firmly flex the muscle OVER that muscle strength used to open hand, and you must reach that muscle strength UNDER somewhere in the range of a half second. Make sense? To open the hand fully, or partially, etc, you hold that flex under the hand opens to the desired openness. Same for wrist, hold that muscle until the wrist is rotated to the desired rotation. My current arm in pics will rotate either direction almost 360 degrees. No wires connect the hand, so thats no why it does not fully rotate. My work arm with the othand hand, the full black carbon fiber is an older wrist rotator that will rotate 360 degrees as long as you want it to lol. To close the hand, or rotate wrist clockwise, you would do the SAME thing, BUT its a seperate muscle. Make a fist again, but instead of making a door knocking motion, bend your wrist the opposite direction....as doing so, you can see a bulge on the outside hairy side of your arm, just near your elbow, that is the muscle I use to close hand, and rotate wrist clockwise. It is tough at first to coordinate your mind to keep these intensities, and speeds correct, to do what you WANT with the hand/wrist. A LOT more people do NOT use an electronic wrist rotator, because it is too frustrating for some user's, and not worth it to them. I am the opposite, I cannot stand not having an electronic wrist rotator. Drives me NUTS. Now to change grip patterns(hand gestures), I "co-contract" the two previously described muscles. I basically flex BOTH, at the same time firmly. Then it will change the position of the thumb, to grip objects differently. One you complete a grip, and are done, the hand will automatically enter a relaxed hand position, and in 3 seconds, you will hear a beep beep, like a watch, and it goes back into the original thumb position, that I set as default, again via bluetooth on the laptop. Some users actually use the co-contract muscle flex to enter into a dedicated wrist rotation mode, rather than the thumb change like I do. It simplifies it for people, and thats great, but i find it extremely slow, and unnatural, but to each his own. This is all for this hand. My next hand, that I will get it a whole other world. I will describe all that once i have it. This hand will have 14 different available hand gestures to use, but the hand can be programmed with I think 5 at once. You would flex muscles in different patterns to enter different modes, to sum it up.

TreeGuy- also keep in mind when I tell you these grip forces, that this means when I flex the muscle at 100%. I can lightly flex, and slowly move the fingers to the object, and grip it as light as I want, or give it the full poundage. The only exception is that natural mode, because the hand does this automatically, after you release something, and the hand does not receive a signal from you after .5 seconds. The .5 seconds is an example of how the hand can be tuned via laptop/bluetooth. You can adjust in seconds how long the hand waits until it relaxes to a natural state.

I would have thought it was more pounds of pinch force, but its interesting. I really am having a difficult time trying to decide of what the theme of the arm should be. I do not want to paint again, I am stupid anal about keeping it in perfect condition, that it makes me nervous. Considering carbon fiber. I also wonder, if they can make it out of metal. I doubt it. I thought about bedlining it, for something different, but long sleeves would be a nuisance. I like gray, but i feel it would be boring.

I had to look it up on OttoBock's website. They list it in Newtons, so I googled a Newtons to Pounds converter. The hand has different grip patterns. Opposition mode's pinch force in pounds is 15.736 lbs. Opposition grip is when you pinch your thumb down in against the tips of your index, and middle finger. Lateral grip mode's pinch force in pounds is 13.4885 lbs. Lateral grip is when your thumb presses against your index finger, but on the side of the index, at the nearest pivot to your index fingernail. Make sense? There is also a Neutral mode grip pattern. Once you are finished releasing your grip off an object, the hand automatically relaxes, into a natural hand gesture, as if you are just walking with your hands at your side. If you were to allow the hand to grip onto something as it went into this natural relaxed gesture, it would have 3.37213 lbs of pinch force. I also see the hand itself weighs, approximate 420 grams, which is .93 lbs. I also use an electronic rotating wrist, that is added on as an option. That weighs an additional .4 lbs to the .93 lbs of the hand.

That is really cool, I am glad I can share this, and interest you guys in something not top common. Thank you for the kind words too, I just want to share this exciting stuff.

That is a neat story. Obviously, and unfortunate event, that is not neat, but its the drive that your relative has that, I feel I have, and I love hearing that others too, do not sit around, with whoa's me. You know, sometimes people just do not want a prosthesis, and some want them. Its the older generation typically who choses to go without it seems. Older folks treat others more humanely, where the more recent generations get, the more lousy they treat others. I can honestly do thing so much easier without the arms on, although some things cannot be done without the prosthetics, like the chainsaw, and certain things. I honestly only wear the arms around others who i am not EXTREMELY comfortable around, my real arm stump is almost like a private part in my mimd, that you dont just go whipping out. I wear these arms to try and blend in, if that makes sense, even though this current arm is far from natiral looking. I still get all sorts of googly eyes from the public, and the worst part is, its the adults that are mpre obnoxious than children! Kids are curious, I get it, they see, and its like old news in an instance to them it seems. Where as adults know its rude, and know what it is, yet still make it awkward, and uncomfortable. I am rambling on, but my point is, good for your relative, not caring about the reactions he gets in public! I wish I could be more like that. Sounds like a wonderful person! Thanks for sharing that.

Current setup, think I will turn this thread into sort of a log.

Terrible, hate seeing things like that.

Thank you Biz!

Since 2007, the tech has gone crazy developed. Weight wise, they are light, yes. I believe around 3 to 3.5 lbs. HOWEVER! Keep in mind, I only suspend that on 3" of bone BELOW my real elbow, so the weight FEELS much greater. I actually call it leverage weight. Plus, the majority of the weight is in the actual fake hand. The arm detached from the fake hand might weight .7 lbs, so that leaves the hand at over 2 pounds, extremely off balance. They do use titanium, and real carbon fiber, and fiber glass. I have no complaints with weight, infact I hold my Mathew's Mission Hype with it, i draw with my real arm. Although, some people are very affected by the weight, to the extent, it might mandate that they choose a electronic hand, over an other(s). The length in which your real arm is also makes a difference in the way you feel the weight. Some amputees are only missing hand, and wrist. At this point, weight is no big deal, because the batteries, and electronics are mounted externally, on there actual real arm, in a fatter prosthetic shell, since theres no room due to long bone. Make sense?

If I skipped over anyone's questions, please let me know. Don't hesitate to ask anything either

Thank you Moog, and will absolutely keep all informed.

Thank you for that, I honestly enjoy doing things, that people think are not possible, love pushing that envelope.

I appreciate that, thank you

Too expensive! Insurance is why I have what I have, its a huge reason why I work for a local township.