Prosthetics company reaches for success

A company spawned from university research to create one of the world’s most advanced artificial limbs has been awarded the UK’s premier prize for engineering innovation.

The i-LIMB Hand has five powered digits

Touch Bionics, established in 2003 and based in Livingston, West Lothian, received the £50,000 ($99,000) MacRobert Award from the Duke of Edinburgh for developing an artificial hand. The prize is awarded by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
“We are over the moon to have won the 2008 MacRobert Award, which is a huge honour for any engineering-oriented company,” said Touch Bionics CEO Stuart Mead. “To be selected ahead of three other excellent innovations is a real testament to the tremendous level of hard work and incredible engineering skill that has gone into the development of the i-LIMB Hand.”

Launched in 2007, the i-LIMB Hand is a first-to-market prosthetic device with five individually powered digits. With over 20 years of research and development behind it, the i-LIMB Hand looks and acts like a real human hand and represents a generational advance in bionics and patient care. Since the launch, more than 250 patients worldwide have been fitted and Touch Bionics is rapidly expanding across the globe.

The MacRobert Award, first presented in 1969, recognises the successful development of innovative ideas in engineering. It seeks to demonstrate the importance of engineering and the role of engineers and scientists in contributing to national prosperity and international prestige.
Touch Bionics has also had to become an expert in a form of silicone-based artificial skin that is spread over the products to make them appear lifelike. Each hand costs about £27,000 – including fitting costs – but the figure could come down if the products could be made in high ¬volumes.