With all that can be said about prosthetic hands, particularly inasmuch as surfing the overpriced under-functional segment, one still cannot overstate the aspects of the domain concerning “useless”, “screwed”, “beyond repair” and maybe (still) “beyond understanding”.

So, I wanted to put on the iLimb myoelectric arm today. Yesterday, software update (“biosim”, 2.9.1.22) and firmware update seemed to have installed fine.

• The electrodes do not touch my skin.
• They at least do not appear to do so.
• They may but one does not know.
• To find out, I need the “biosim” desktop software to display the signal levels.
• In fact I required that my “bionic” hand allows me (the user) to interfere with actual signal levels to begin with.
• Hard requirement,  because even tough “Prince Hand builder” at Royal Touch Bionics lacks the extra brain to understand why end users may need access to control features, I perfectly well know that my stump changes volume a bit.
• But Touchbionics figured, why let the users see and set signal levels.
• Touchbionics figured: let only professional prosthetic technicians see and set signal levels.
• So it seems they downgraded us users.
• To do that requires a mental image of arm amputees that warrants a bit of flogging.
• In fact, I just lost most sympathies just now.
• Trade ethics, quite clearly.
• Sympathies? Bang, gone. GAWNE.
• Besides, the hand barely connects to either the iPod or “biosim” desktop software any longer. Actually I have not been able to “connect” it to the control software for more than, maybe, a few seconds.

So basically this now is an arm that

• has most serious electrode connection issues
• and while these may be diagnosed and checked using software, practically speaking,
• the latest software updates resulted in absent connectivity.

That means, basically, that Touch Bionics bricked the sucker.

Always realize, that at the snap of a finger (bwahaha), Touch Bionics can brick your hand (I guess this is a sequence of serious malfunction issues but it totally equates to what I said, from user view). And not just that they could or can – as we can clearly see, they will brick your hand. Snip, gone.

So maybe after all, body powered technology had a lot more going for it.

But maybe, and after all, we kinda figured that already ; )