Dani Clode is a grad student at London’s Royal College of Art (RCA) and her latest creation is something called The Third Thumb: a 3D-printed prosthetic that does exactly what its name suggests. “The origin of the word 'prosthesis' meant 'to add, put on to,’ so not to fix or replace, but to extend,” Clode told Dezeen. “The Third Thumb is inspired by this word origin, exploring human augmentation and aiming to reframe prosthetics as extensions of the body.”
It’s absolutely unnecessary stuff, and I love it.
The thumb straps on to the side of your hand, and connects to a bracelet containing wires and servos. The wearer controls it using pressure sensors that sit under the soles of their feet. If they press down with one foot the thumb will make a grasping movement, with these instructions sent to the wrist unit via Bluetooth. It sounds a bit fiddly, but Clode says people pick it up pretty quickly. It’s no more complex than, say, steering a car and operating the brake and accelerator at the same time.
It’s just a prototype, but Clode says the aim is reimagine what we think of as a prosthetic — something that adds capabilities, rather than just replacing those lost.
Just imagine: it’s the future sometime. You’re doing business stuff, and you reach out to shake somebody’s hand. You grasp it, firm and unwavering. Slightly too firm in fact. The other person looks down. You’ve got a dang extra thumb, tapping their hand in a confident but businesslike way. Guess who just won that big contract? That’s right, you did. And you can thank your third thumb.
Comments
Finally, one handed typing on the iPhone 7 Plus.
By Ishmael201 on 07.06.17 6:25am
More is always better mate ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
By root1 on 07.06.17 6:59am
I genuinely need this.
By Wilcoclahas on 07.06.17 7:14am
Love the concept but hoping for direct (neural) control in the near future.
By Sohaib Baig on 07.06.17 7:36am
I’m not sure how useful it will be without sensory "write access". Which is, well…
By bsanr on 07.06.17 12:04pm
man, love it
It’s like all my love for technology boiled down into one finger Basically the idea of how technology can enhance us and our life
By ChiefPotato on 07.06.17 7:37am
Do you think this would help with keyboard shortcuts? On Windows having to repeatedly hit the control key for copy and paste ends up hurting my pinky finger.
By moe on 07.06.17 8:46am
Just remap your keyboard dude.
Auto hotkey FTW.
By Doge Man on 07.06.17 11:41am
How is it different from hitting the Shift keys? I have small hands and I don’t mind it. That being said, what I do end up doing, because I have small hands, is that I move my whole hand down a little bit as I type, so the finger isn’t really moving, the hand goes up and down. Also, make sure you learn how to touch type and then you’ll be able to type properly so your hands don’t hurt.
Have you ever done accents in Windows where you have to type Control with pinky and Shift with the ring key and type a word at the same time? I actually think the Control key works really well and it’s placed well as well. Also, remember that there are two Control keys so depending on where the letter is, you pick the Control that is on the opposite side of it. So, to help you out, just use the Control on the right side and then F for Control+F and it could be easier on the hands.
By peartechlish on 07.06.17 3:18pm
ftfy
By Canterrain on 07.06.17 9:09am
Depends on how the person feels about it. I’m guessing if it’s an older person, you just lost that contract for being a weirdo.
By Stone Cold Dan Quinn on 07.06.17 11:44am
Lol, you’re right: that’s much more realistic.
By James Vincent on 07.06.17 1:12pm
The guitarist wasn’t even using the extra thumb to play….
By RenatoFontes on 07.06.17 9:41am
Yeah, but what if he could…
By atomb on 07.06.17 10:02am
Speaking as a guitarist, I doubt it would make a difference.
Interesting idea anyway.
By teddyurdawg on 07.06.17 10:34am
There are six strings and you have five fingers, I can come easily with 11 thousands of chords you can’t play with your underdeveloped 5 fingers hand. Imagine now 7 or 8 strings guitars.
Even traditional difficult chords like Gadd9 or Cadd9/E could benefit of that extra thumb.
And think about the reach you will have, you could stretch like 8 frets.
And imagine an awesome double monkey grip, you could fret BOTH E strings with your 2 thumbs. That would put you in double Hendrix level of awesomeness.
By Havohej on 07.07.17 3:10am
No one else found this creepy.
By Aus_User on 07.06.17 10:45am
Totally looked creepy.
By redstang on 07.07.17 5:03pm
Based on the Magicians, the road to acquiring an additional digit involves profound evil.
By Alar's Ashes on 07.06.17 10:50am
Kill it with fire, it’s so creepy.
By TheMantalope on 07.06.17 11:15am
Alright…we’re all thinking about the jerking off implications…I’m just the first to say it.
By afripino on 07.06.17 11:36am
jerking off?
more like the reach around
By cy.starkman on 07.06.17 12:33pm
Why the hell do I want this?… I don’t know, but I really do. I love the idea of augmenting my body with non-obtrusive tech.
I can definitely see it having a use for professional PC gamers who need to reach keys all over the place.
By Buggy3D on 07.06.17 11:38am
Can I get a third hand so I can use the N64 controller properly?
By Stone Cold Dan Quinn on 07.06.17 11:44am
Praise the Omnissiah, I want my mechadendrites!
By Hiya Dagon on 07.06.17 11:59am