An ultrasound tracking system for tracking shallow structures by acquiring and processing a sequence of images is provided. The system comprises a transducer, a beamformer, and computational processing hardware, wherein the transducer has a plurality of sub-arrays with a gap between adjacent sub-arrays, the sub-arrays in generally parallel relation to one another, the sub-arrays comprising at least 12 elements, the beamformer in electronic communication with the sub-arrays, and the computational processing hardware comprising instructions for transforming signals from the sub-arrays into a plurality of data sets. An active hand prosthesis and an active hand exoskeleton is also provided.
