Virtual reality used in Sheffield Hallam prosthetic limb exhibition

Kevin Everson, a lower arm amputee, used the technology to train for a new prosthetic limb

The everyday challenges of living with a prosthetic limb are explored in an interactive virtual reality exhibition.

Researchers at Sheffield Hallam University have developed the technology to help amputees learn to use new prosthetic limbs.

The Body and Mind exhibition enables visitors to visit a virtual kitchen to see how amputees use everyday objects.

The exhibition is part of a Virtual Reality Prosthetics team project, funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Madelynne Arden, professor of health psychology, said the team is made up of experts from across the university who are developing "genuine working solutions for real-world problems".

Smash plates

Dr Arden said: "Virtual reality is a completely immersive experience and we are keen for all members of the general public, children and adults, to come along and see the exhibition for themselves," she said.

"The project itself is a perfect example of academic collaboration and we are very proud with the impact it is having."

Visitors can use the new technology - which uses the new HTC Vive technology, Oculus Rift - to pick up drinks cans and apples, open cupboards, and smash plates.

They can design their own limb, see how prosthetics have developed over the last century and hear from people with prosthetic limbs, including Paralympian Jon-Allan Butterworth.

The role of sculpture in developing realistic and useable prosthetic limbs since World War One was explored in an exhibition in Leeds in July.

Sculptors like Anna Coleman Ladd worked directly with surgeons creating facial masks for injured soldiers

The Leeds exhibition showed how prosthetics technology has advanced from the 19th Century

The exhibition draws on historical examples of prosthetics and artwork inspired by artificial limbs

Body and Mind is at Sheffield Millennium Gallery from 25-27 October, and at Weston Park Museum from 12-13 November.