[HN Gopher] Bionic 3rd Thumb [video]
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Bionic 3rd Thumb [video]
Author : jermaustin1
Score : 47 points
Date : 2023-01-25 13:14 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
| zoklet-enjoyer wrote:
| She's been showing this off for years but hasn't released it as a
| product or open sourced it or anything. I messaged her a couple
| years ago on IG and asked if I could buy one and I think her
| reply was something like it would be available when she's ready.
| I think someone will have to copy it for it to be available to
| the masses.
|
| Link to Dani Clode's website
| https://www.daniclodedesign.com/thethirdthumb
| znpy wrote:
| In fairness, that looks more like a research tool than a
| product in development... so not really aimed at mass
| production
| buggy6257 wrote:
| As someone missing a thumb, I messaged her asking to buy one as
| well to try and see if it could be assistive. Never got a
| reply, so I emailed the researchers she worked with, and they
| said that she holds all rights to the design so they are unable
| to provide me even with plans to build my own, and I would have
| to get her permission/access to it.
|
| Overall it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. It's been
| like 7+ years since it was first advertised by her and still
| nothing but PR and no attempt to interact with anyone who might
| NEED one, let alone those who WANT one.
| londons_explore wrote:
| This is the kind of project that could be prototyped by a
| mechanical engineering student in a few weeks. If you want it
| really badly, just find a mech eng student who wants a summer
| job.
| zoklet-enjoyer wrote:
| I'd pitch in if we crowdfund it
| causi wrote:
| Might be worth having a chat with Ian Davis:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YQ8dGOiDk8
| zoklet-enjoyer wrote:
| I watched some of his other videos too and the articulation
| and grip strength is amazing. He's also modded a compound
| bow and a drill to use with his partially amputated hand
| and created a golf club for a man with 2 partially
| amputated arms. I've never seen anything like this.
| londons_explore wrote:
| It is not at all uncommon for researchers to be
| unwilling/unable to take their work beyond the research lab.
|
| In the world of academia, it is citations and papers that
| academics want. You won't get extra citations just because
| you can buy it on amazon.
| soperj wrote:
| This reminds me of a project someone did where they wore glasses
| that flipped everything upside down, and then separately left to
| right. Generally it took them about a week before their brain
| just interpreted everything correctly again, and it was like
| looking without the glasses. When they flipped it diagonally
| though it was three weeks and still hadn't "fixed" it, and they
| had other stuff to do so they had to abandon it.
| d_watt wrote:
| The other day I was thinking about how you have certain
| generations that are exposed to a new technologies, and are "step
| function" different from previous generations. EG, most recently
| "digital natives" being kids for whom the internet was a defacto
| part of life.
|
| I was wondering what is the thing that's going to come that will
| make me marvel at that generations ability to use a technology
| effortlessly. Maybe it's a 3rd thumb from birth!
| generalizations wrote:
| > controlled by your toes
|
| I wonder if there'll be a version that can be controlled by
| something less 'hacky' - maybe reading nerve signals to part of
| the hand.
| jjk166 wrote:
| The nerve signals going to your hand are already controlling
| the rest of your hand. While viable for prosthetic
| replacements, adding genuinely new functionality would come at
| the cost of current functionality. You need something that you
| can finely control in several degrees of freedom.
|
| The toes are a very logical option - there's a very 1:1
| relationship between how you control your fingers and toes
| meaning it's simple to learn and uses the same neural pathways,
| your toes are generally idle and you're free to wiggle them
| around as you please, and the interface is non-intrusive so you
| don't need surgery or elaborate tuning by a highly specialized
| medical technician.
| recuter wrote:
| Great, the Emacs people are going to have a field day with this.
| angelbar wrote:
| The internet prize for today goes for you.....
| jjk166 wrote:
| Personally I would design it so that it can be controlled by a
| single big toe - side to side motion controls orientation, up and
| down motion controls open and closed position. That way you can
| have one on each hand. Combine it with a load cell on the bottom
| of the shoe that activates and deactivates it based on how much
| force is applied so it's not wiggling around while you're
| walking. I'd also add some small vibrating motors that can be
| used for haptic feedback from the thumb so you know when it's
| touching something (by the vibrators being on) and even how much
| force is being applied (by the amplitude/frequency of the
| vibrations).
|
| Also not sure how I feel about the cable drive. Of course it does
| behave somewhat like muscle and allows the motors to be located
| some distance away, but I think for a thumb analog you need a
| certain level of precision control over position and force
| applied that a cable drive just can't give you. Like this is fine
| for grasping but you could never use it to type or fumble keys.
| I'd probably go with a bar linkage across the back.
| newaccount74 wrote:
| I just tried and I can't get my big toe to move sideways.
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(page generated 2023-01-25 23:02 UTC)