A West Lothian company has unveiled a prototype bionic hand that offers users ‘an unparalleled degree of flexibility’.

The Press Association reports that Scottish company Touch Bionics will be featuring the i-Limb Pulse at a German trade show in Leipzig next week.

Touch Bionics launched the i-Limb Pulse in 2007 as the world’s first commercially available bionic hand. The new i-Limb Pulse represents a significant advance in the technology, said the company – and uses ‘pulsing’ technology to provide a tighter grip on items such as belts and shoelaces.

The i-Limb Pulse has an aluminium chassis and is able to carry weights up to 90kg.  Special software will also enable users to pre-program the hand using Bluetooth technology.

The first person to be fitted with the prosthetic hand is firefighter Ian Reid from Thurso in Caithness, Scotland. Mr Reid lost his hand in a bus crash while on holiday seven years’ ago.

He told reporters:

‘The i-Limb Pulse is a very exciting technology development, particularly for someone like myself, who is looking to get back to a level of duty in the fire service.’

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