As a child, Chloe Holmes lost most of her fingers from streptococcal septicaemia after contracting chicken pox. For the rest of her life, she’s struggled to fit in at school and do even the simplest of tasks. That changed when her parents bought her a robotic hand from Touch Bionics.
Using sensors in a fitted sleeve, Holmes has been working with her new hand and learning new tasks. Given the unique articulation of each finger in the hand, it’s quite likely she will encounter few things now beyond her abilities. It’s worth noting that at age 15, Holmes was, briefly, the youngest non-US citizen to receive a bionic hand. A title which she lost some three days later. That doesn’t really matter a whole lot, of course, since it meant that another youngster was also benefiting from a bionic attachment.
Of course, this piece of high technology wasn’t cheap — costing her parents a sweet $54,626. Given that their daughter is positively brimming with confidence and enthusiasm over her new hand, that seems like a small price to pay. Read on below to see a video of Holmes trying out her new hand around the home.
(via Geek.com)
Published: Aug 22, 2011 06:02 pm