Bionic prosthetics on horizon?

An international research team built a bionic hand that allowed a Danish amputee to feel lifelike sensations.

“It is the first time an amputee has had real-time touch sensation from a prosthetic device,” said Silvestro Micera, one of the researchers on a team that included robotics experts from Germany, Italy and Switzerland, according to BBC News.

The team added sensors to the artificial hand that could detect and measure information about touch, using computer algorithms to transform the electrical signals into impulses that sensory nerves can interpret.

The hand was given to 36-year-old Dennis Aabo (pictured), who lost his hand in a fireworks accident almost a decade ago. Aabo spent a month doing laboratory tests, reporting that he could tell the shape and consistency of objects he picked up, even when blindfolded.

However, scientists believe a commercially available sensory-feedback bionic hand is still more than a decade away.