Scientists have created a bionic hand that actually let’s a person feel with it. The full details have been published in the Science Translational Medicine Journal on the experiment lasted a month and had very positive results.

Danish man Dennis Aabo took part in the experiment, having lost his hand almost ten years ago. “The biggest difference was when I grabbed something I could feel what I was doing without having to look. I could use the hand in the dark,” Aabo said. “It was intuitive to use, and incredible to be able to feel whether objects were soft or hard, square or round.”

It was an international team of robotic experts who conducted the research experiment. Members included those from Switzerland, Italy and Germany. They put electrodes onto nerves in Aago’s upper arm, then connected them to sensors in the prosthetic hand, and this let touch signals to be sent directly to the his brain.

“He(Aago) is a hero,” said Professor Paolo Rossini, who works in Rome, at the University Hospital Agostino Gemelli, as a neurologist. “He gave a month of his life and had two operations to test this device. We are all very grateful to him.”

[via BBC News]