Device to help keep tighter grip on smart phone underway

Prosthetics of the future will not be limited to helping people with disabilities, if a bizarre creation by a young artist is anything to go by. The Third Thumb aims to extend the abilities of anyone who wears it, providing finer control when handling objects. The device could help its wearer to carry more, keep […]

Prosthetics of the future will not be limited to helping people with disabilities, if a bizarre creation by a young artist is anything to go by.

The Third Thumb aims to extend the abilities of anyone who wears it, providing finer control when handling objects.

The device could help its wearer to carry more, keep a tighter grip on their smartphone, or even play complex chords on the guitar.

The unusual device is the creation of Dani Clode, a graduate student at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London.

Her project aims to challenge the perception of prosthetics as merely replacements for body parts that are missing or not functional.

She envisages this device, and others like it, being used by people with disabilities and those without, allowing anyone to extend their natural capabilities.

In the future she believes it could be put to a range of uses, from helping a jewellery designer to exercise fine control over their creations to a a tattoo artist needing a steady hand.  

In a written statement on her website, Ms Clode said: ‘The origin of the word prosthesis meant “to add, put onto”; so not to fix or replace, but to extend.

‘The Third Thumb is inspired by this word origin, exploring human augmentation and aiming to reframe prosthetics as extensions of the body. 

‘When we start to extend our abilities, and when we reframe prosthetics as extensions, then we start to shift the focus from “fixing” disability, to extending ability.’

The human thumb has a dynamic range of movement, including its characteristic opposable directional ability, which the Third Thumb seeks to recreate.