State of the Art in Bionic Hands

Abstract

Prosthetic hands have made a significant influence on the quality of life of people with upper arm amputation. Research on prosthetic hands today is focused on replicating the functionalities of the biological hands. The present article provides a bibliometric survey on bionic hands, done through a compilation of a scientific publications database on the field of prosthetic hands spanning the last two decades. Through network-based information analysis, meaningful patterns are inferred, and several key questions significant to bionic prosthetic hands are answered. The article gives an insight into the growth, progress, and future trend in bionic hand prostheses, including identifying subject areas and discovering distinct research communities within the subject. The analysis clearly reveals the rapid expansion of bionic hand research over the last two decades, which is expected to rise considerably in near future.