A unique experiment in which 36 people were fitted with a third robotic thumb, showed the brain's extraordinary ability to adapt and take advantage of a completely new part of the body, in ways that researchers are still trying to understand.

 

Thumb III began as an award-winning graduate project at the Royal College of Art in London, England, and has been accomplished to reformulate the traditional view of prosthetics.

 

The third thumb represents a redundant organ in the human body, rather than replacing or restoring "normal" human functions. It is a transhuman concept, but scientists do not actually know whether the human brain can usefully support an additional body part or the long-term consequences of an additional cognitive load.

 

The project can help with repetitive and physically difficult tasks, or help people who have lost the use of one hand permanently or temporarily, in addition to the possibility of the emergence of completely new abilities and activities in his presence, whether it is a new way to play a musical instrument, or the emergence of a completely new sporting activity.