A toe-controlled robotic third thumb might be just what you need

Who hasn’t wished they had a spare pair of hands every now and then? You might be trying to unlock the front door with your arms full of shopping, or you’re rushing to make dinner, but you can only wait so long at once.

Well, humanity just got one step closer with an extra toe — paving the way for future robotic limbs.

The Third Finger, designed by Cambridge researchers, is attached to the hand at the bottom of the palm, below the little finger – opposite the true thumb. It is controlled by a pressure sensor under each big toe or foot. Pressure from the right finger or foot pulls the thumb across the hand, while pressure from the left moves it up toward the fingers.

Releasing the pressure returns it to its original position.

One of the purposes of the thumb is to augment the human body, and one-handed tasks performed while wearing the prosthesis in testing included peeling a banana, opening beverage bottles, and playing cards.

The Cambridge team also said it was incredibly easy to use, testing the device on almost 600 members of the public at the 2022 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.

Expand

Over five days, 596 people, aged three to 96, tried the third finger. Only four were unable to use it, either because it did not fit their hand well, or in the case of very young children, they were too light. to operate the pressure pads.

However, within a minute most people were able to use their thumbs without problems and completed tasks including picking up and moving pegs from a board to a basket, then moving objects of different shapes and sizes to another basket .

The team stressed the importance of testing the new technology on a wide demographic to make sure it works for everyone.

Professor Tamar Makin, from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge, said: “Technology is changing our very definition of what it means to be human, with machines becoming increasingly many parts of our daily lives, even our minds and bodies.

“These technologies open up exciting new opportunities that can benefit society, but it is vital that we consider how they can help all people equally, especially marginalized communities that are often excluded from innovation research and development.”

Examples of bad tech research cited by the university include women facing higher health risks from car accidents because male crash test models are used and speech recognition systems that work better for white voices than for blacks.

Co-author Lucy Dowdall added: “If motor augmentation – and even wider human-machine interactions – are to be successful, they will need to integrate seamlessly with the user’s motor and cognitive abilities.

“We will have to take into account different ages, genders, weights, lifestyles, disabilities – as well as people’s cultural, financial backgrounds, and even their likes or dislikes of technology.”

And while the thumb is currently used for relatively simple tasks, it demonstrates the great potential of robotics to enhance the human body beyond current biological limitations.

Personally, we’re definitely in the market for a tail for extra balance.

MORE: Grim close-up footage reveals dangerous parasites that could be living on your pet

MORE: Experts debut June’s rare planetary parade

MORE: One key thing missing from most Hollywood blockbusters

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.