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For the first time in 20 years, John German can take a ticket from a toll booth.

For the past month, Mr. German has been getting used to his new i-LIMB prosthesis, one that looks so real, his family and friends can hardly believe it's not his actual hand.

"Every day, I find there's a different task that's easier to do," said Mr. German, a 40-year-old father of two from Pennsylvania.

Developed in Scotland, the i-LIMB by Touch Bionics is the latest technological advancement in the world of prosthetics. Its major highlight: It allows wearers the look and feel of a real hand, with five motors that run each finger and thumb separately.

But it's not the only bionic prosthesis available. Others include ProDigits, also by Touch Bionics, which provide individual finger or thumb prostheses for patients with partial hands, available now through select clinics, and a U.S. computerized ankle invention by iWalk, expected next year.

Mr. German, who's attending this week's 12th annual World Congress of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics in Vancouver, has seen an array of prostheses since the late eighties, when a congenital defect that was putting pressure on a major artery going to his left hand caused it to turn gangrenous and be amputated.

But the i-LIMB, which Mr. German has combined with a high-definition silicone cover by LivingSkin, is something of a different sort: no pinchers, no hooks - and no stares.

"I've never had a problem talking about my hand, but the truth of the matter is that sometimes you're in a hurry, you want to run to the store, grab some milk, you're on deadlines; you don't always have time to explain to people," he said. "[Now I'm] more able to choose when [I] want to talk about it."

Inventor David Gow and his team of prosthesis experts at Touch Bionics have spent five years developing the i-LIMB. And although it looks intricate, Dr. Gow said it runs on fairly simple mechanical engineering that works with the body.

To start, a patient whose arm has been severed at a certain point, or who was born without a hand, often has the muscles up to the point where the rest of the arm or hand would have been. As such, the prosthesis is fitted into a socket, which has two electrodes that attach to the remaining muscles. When the muscles work, they send tiny pulses of electricity to the electrodes, which in turn, power the computer chip and gears in the prosthesis.

The i-LIMB's separate motors allow the fingers to move independently and bend as if they had actual joints. And, because the fingers' gears stall as soon as they hit a hard surface, the digits curl easily around objects.

Seeing the invention brought to life is a proud achievement for Dr. Gow, whose team also invented the first bionic shoulder in the late nineties.

Touch Bionics was spun out of research in the national health system in Scotland in 2003. There was little funding for the group as a public entity, but once it went private, Dr. Gow said, donations started pouring in - a feat that allows more research to go ahead every year.

"There's more money being spent in this field in the past five years than in the 55 before that," he said.

Part of that funding is driven by current wars, which often send soldiers home missing body parts.

"There's a public clamour to rehabilitate those that have been servicing the country," he said, adding prosthesis research increased as a response to events such as the U.S. Civil War and the First World War.

Now the challenge is in getting the i-LIMB to mainstream consumers who haven't been as lucky as Mr. German.

Part of the problem with making the device available is the limited amount of experts able to fit patients with it. Dr. Gow said in order for that to change, their company will focus on finding ways to train more people.

"They can only gain that by clinical experience," he said.

But once the i-LIMB is made available to health care systems where a prosthetist can fit patients, teach them how to use it and supply batteries, Dr. Gow thinks the field will expand.

"Once it's on the market, it will allow other companies to compete with it, which will give more choices," he said.

Mr. German said companies that provide health insurance to their employees would benefit from making the i-LIMB available. "They're going to be able to make their members more functional and preserve health of their sound hand," he said.

Traditionally with prostheses a wearer needs to move his or her body much more to get a task done, he said.

"We're going to eliminate a lot of overcompensating for the rest of your body. [I don't have to] bend at my knees, swing my shoulder out and cock my elbow [to do a certain task]," he explained.

And what's even better than taking that ticket from a toll booth?

Holding his daughters' hands without crushing them.

"All these things are huge," Mr. German said.