Published: 2013 April 24 12:27:32 (2832 Views)

A UK teenager who lost his hand to meningitis has become the first in Britain to be fitted with a revolutionary bionic replacement - operated using an iPhone.

Patrick Kane, 16, can now control his state-of-the-art left hand using a mobile application on his iPhone 5 which gives him 24 different pre-set grips.

He can create favourite grips and configure the settings on his arm for different situations, like sport or using a keyboard.

The thumb on the next generation prosthesis now rotates automatically instead of Patrick having to move it manually with his other hand.

Patrick - dubbed the bionic boy - showed off his brand new i-limb ultra revolution at the headquarters of Touch Bionics in Livingston, West Lothian.

He said: "It makes a big difference. It has got a mobile phone app which means it can go into 24 different pre-set patterns.

"I can operate it using my iPhone 5. There's nothing it can't do."

Experts at Touch Bionics lead the field in the use of intelligent prosthetics, and Patrick, from London, is the first in the UK to benefit from the latest technology.

At 13, he had already become the youngest amputee in the world to be fitted with one of the company's pioneering prosthetics when he received an earlier model, the i-limb pulse, in 2010.

But the upgraded i-limb ultra revolution is even more sophisticated, and allows Patrick to create favourite shortcuts to control the arm via an app that can be used on an iPhone 5 or 4S.

He can use the biosim mobile control app to activate 24 different grips or gestures just by tapping the screen.

The grips include different pinches, fist clenches, a tripod grip and a single finger point.

Previously Patrick could use only four pre-set grips on the go, and would have to return to his computer to alter the settings.

His new hand and its rotating thumb can also be controlled by sensors attached to the muscles in his arm, and it responds instantly.

It is so sensitive it can be used to grip a single sheet of paper, play Connect Four or tie shoelaces but can also take the strain of 90kg weights in the gym.

The covering of the i-limb can be made to match the wearer's natural skin tone, but Patrick chose to have it in jet black.

The i-limbs are custom-made and cost between £25,000 and upwards of £80,000, depending on how far up the arm it has to extend.

Patrick, who is naturally right handed, only needed a short prosthetic hand as he still has the wrist joint on his left arm.

He and his family met the cost of the hand privately rather than having it funded by the NHS.

- Mirror

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