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Someday in the near future, amputees will be able to print an artificial limb with the latest updates in a matter of hours.

That's the goal of Italian technology designer, Federico Ciccarese, who has created a unique artificial hand, dubbed 'YouBionic'.

The hand uses electrical signals generated from the brain to move mechanical fingers, in the same way that muscles move when neurons are fire off signals.

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Someday in the near future, amputees will be able to print an artificial limb with the latest updates in a matter of hours.That's the goal of Italian technology designer, Federico Ciccarese, who has created a unique artificial hand, dubbed 'YouBionic' (pictured)

YouBionic is 3D-printed from nylon dust, meaning designs for the device can be downloaded online and created by anyone who owns a 3D printer.

'We can manufacture the hand and all of its moving components in a single piece and with a single print,' the company writes on its website.

In the current designs, electrodes are attached to the muscle of the remaining part of an amputee's arm.

These can read brain signals and convert them into the movements of the plastic hand, using a type of microcontroller known as Arduino.

YouBionic is 3D-printed from nylon dust, meaning designs for the device can be downloaded online and created by anyone who owns a 3D printer

YouBionic says its prosthetics will also be able to be made for a reasonable price, as Arduino is relatively cheap and runs on open source software

YouBionic says its prosthetics will also be able to be made for a reasonable price, as Arduino is relatively cheap and runs on open source software.

'There's electricity in all muscles of our body,' Mr Ciccarese told Lina Zeldovich at Digital Trends.

'When the brain sends an impulse to the muscle, the sensor reads it and translates it into a number proportional to the contraction and then sends this message to the microcontroller.'

He told Digital Trends that amputees will be able to update the hardware and software of their limbs in the same way we update our smartphones.

But Mr Ciccarese said even healthy humans may be able to use a third limb, for instance when an astronaut is repairing the International Space Station.

'I started this device as a prosthetic, but it can have many applications,' Mr Ciccarese says. 'I hope I can do something for humanity like the Iron Man,' he added.

In the current designs, electrodes are attached to the muscle of the remaining part of an amputee's arm.These can read brain signals and convert them into the movements of the plastic hand, using a type of microcontroller known as Arduino

'I started this device as a prosthetic, but it can have many applications,' Mr Ciccarese says. 'I hope I can do something for humanity like the Iron Man,' he added. Pictured is a scene from the 2008 film Iron Man

Amputees will be able to update the hardware and software of their limbs in way we update our smartphones

THE MIND-CONTROLLED BIONIC ARM THAT PLUGS INTO THE BODY

Pictured is Igor Spetic Holding a Cherry Tomato. The system has worked for two-and-a-half years in Mr Spetic's case

In October, researchers showed how two patients fitted with radical new artificial limbs that interface directly with their skeleton and nervous system.

They were able to identify objects that touched their skin, and do everything from chop wood to drive trucks. 

One, a man who lost his right hand in an industrial accident four years ago could feel objects again thanks to a bionic hand with a sense of touch.

Wearing a blindfold Igor Spetic, 48, was aware of arm hairs rising when a researcher brushed the back of his artificial device with a cotton ball.

The system - which is limited to the lab at this stage - has worked for two-and-a-half years in Mr Spetic's case and 18 months for a second patient in the trial Keith Vonderhueval.

Similar research involving prosthetic hands has reported sensation lasting one month and - in some cases - the ability to feel began to fade over weeks.

Because of Vonderheuval's and Spetic's continuing progress researchers are hopeful the method can lead to a lifetime of use and optimistic a system can be developed for use at home within five years.