SoftHand at the CYBATHLON: a user's experience.
Sasha Blue Godfrey, Matteo Rossi, Cristina Piazza and 5 others
PMID 29187203WHAT IT FOUND
A single pilot with an arm amputation competed in a robotics race using a new soft prosthetic hand.
He completed all tasks, placing fifth overall. The device required less shoulder force than his usual body-powered hook, though he found it heavy and tiring.
Key findings
01The pilot completed all six tasks in the final round, finishing fifth overall, while most other teams failed at least one task.
02The new device required significantly less shoulder movement (8 mm) to activate compared to a standard body-powered hook (44 mm), reducing physical effort.
03The pilot reported that the device's weight caused fatigue and that its size was larger than ideal, requiring more focus to use than his standard prosthesis.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
This is a single-case report of one individual's experience in a competition, not a controlled clinical trial. The pilot had prior experience with body-powered prostheses, which influenced his choice of device and performance. Task rules and difficulty changed between the rehearsal and the final event, making direct comparisons of performance over time difficult. The device was sized for a large male hand (95th percentile), which may not be suitable for all users. The study did not measure clinical outcomes like quality of life or functional independence in daily life, only competition performance.
Declared interests
Funding was provided by the Grainger Foundation, Horizon 2020, and the European Research Council.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret this as evidence that the SoftHand is superior to other prostheses for general clinical use. The pilot's success was in a specific competitive context, and he chose the device based on personal familiarity with the control method, not because it was proven more effective than his standard hook in daily life.