Mind-controlled mechatronic prosthetics now a reality
Robotic prostheses have advanced greatly in the past decade, in terms of both cost and capability. Unfortunately, the standard electrode-over-skin method of control makes many of them unreliable and restricts their functionality, meaning that a number of recipients of these devices commonly reject them as a result. However, a Swedish man has recently celebrated a milestone in robotic prostheses by taking advantage of an osseointegrated (bone-anchored), thought-controlled, implant system in his daily life for more than a year and a half.
Gizmag previously reported on the initial pre-operative technology being developed for this operation by researchers at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology, where the prosthesis was developed. At the time, the team had hoped that the sophisticated algorithms within the artificial arm would give the subject finer control over movements than electrode-over-skin control had demonstrated. Given the efficacy claimed by the researchers in subsequent testing, this hope seems to have come to fruition.
In January 2013 the team at Chalmers University collaborated with Sahlgrenska University Hospital to surgically attach the limb. This involved attaching a titanium receptacle to the bone of the patient which then subsequently became fixed in place through osseointegration (where the titanium becomes fused permanently over a period of time). Following this procedure, an abutting component was attached to the titanium implant to act as a metallic bone extension to which the prosthesis was fixed.
As a result of their work, not only is the limb directly controllable from the signals from the patient's muscles, but the biometric connection also allows for signals to go the opposite way; from the artificial limb to the brain. And, even though the patient has a physically demanding occupation as a truck driver in northern Sweden, the artificial limb system has allowed him to lead a relatively normal life, coping with everything from operating machinery to connecting his trailer to his truck, to handling eggs or tying his shoelaces. In other words, the skeletally-fused artificial limb has proved almost as capable as his real arm.
SOURCE: http://www.gizmag.com/mind-controlled-p ... nic/34184/
Reminds me of my degree
That is amazing!