LifeHand is a thought-controlled prosthesis, a scientific device that enables a person to control a robotic hand using only their mind. It's the result of a €2 million ($3 million), five-year project funded by the European Union. In 2009, it was successfully tested by Pierpaolo Petruzziello, a Brazilian naturalized Italian who had lost his left arm in a car crash.
The project, coordinated by Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies involved the implantation of four electrodes into the nervous system of Pierpaolo Petruzziello's left arm for a one-month period, allowing him to control a four-fingered robot hand to achieve complex movements. The implantation took place into the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, the other research partner involved in the experimentation.
The project followed on from the 2002 three-month experiment of Kevin Warwick and Peter Kyberd, which involved the implantation of 100 electrodes into the nervous system to control a two-fingered robot hand with less dexterity but with touch feedback.