• Research,

Centrale Nantes' bionic hand featured in the Paris Metro

A new CNRS (the National Centre for Scientific Research) mural will stretch across 134m of the corridors in the Montparnasse metro station in Paris, for the next two months. Centrale Nantes / IRCCyN’s bionic hand is featured on the mural, which is devoted to “nature as a model” this year.

on December 8, 2016


The CNRS, in collaboration with the RATP (the public transport operator in the Paris area), displays a 134m mural every year in the Montparnasse metro station to showcase the research work undertaken in the laboratories. This year's theme focuses on bio-inspired innovation - how nature can be used as a model for innovation.

The CNRS called on IRCCyN, (Centrale Nantes - University of Nantes - CNRS - Mines Nantes) and its research work, to include illustrations of the myocontrolled bionic hand on this year's mural. 

"How does the brain give orders to our hands and legs? Understanding this phenomenon will allow an amputee to control a prosthetic hand in a precise way with his/her muscles! "

For those who won't have the opportunity to see the mural with their own eyes in Paris, the CNRS has an interactive, enriched version of the mural online (in French) here: cnrs.fr/multimedia/expo/bioinspiration
Published on December 8, 2016 Updated on March 21, 2017