Scientists get handy tips from Star Wars films to create new bionic limbs

The £1.4 million project is being carried out by experts at the University of Leeds, who will create prosthetic limbs that can sense pressure and temperature.

Electrodes inside the bionic limb will wrap around the nerve endings in the arm in a similar way to the plot in Star Wars.

This means for the first time, the hand could communicate directly with the brain, a major advance in the field of prosthetics.

If successful, it could become available for amputees.

Dr Rory O’Connor, senior lecturer in rehabilitation medicine at the University of Leeds, said: “These are not pie-in-the-sky ideas. We start work now and have the challenge of delivering workable devices in three years.

“Patients tell us they want something more intuitive [which] closely replicates the natural movement and feel of a real hand.That is what we hope to achieve.”

In another project, a pair of ‘smart trousers’ are being developed, with artificial ‘muscles’ in its fabric to support the movement of disabled and older people.

The two research projects are part of a £5.3 million programme to help transform the design of assistive and rehabilitative devices.