Having identified a new, simpler way to study neural activity, researchers believe they are on track to creating a compact, low power and potentially wireless brain sensor that could make thought-controlled prosthetic limbs ubiquitous.
Researchers have developed a new, fully automated prosthetic arm that learns during normal use and adapts to varying conditions.
Researchers have developed a new electronic skin that can allow amputees to perceive touch sensations via their prosthesis. The technology, dubbed e-dermis, can recreate the sense of touch and pain by sensing stimuli and relaying impulses back to peripheral nerves.
Using magnetic beads implanted into muscle tissue within the amputated residuum of animals, researchers have created a more precise way to control prosthetic limbs.
Findings allow for the development of an autonomously updating brain-machine interface, which is able to improve on its own by learning about its subject without additional programming. The system could help develop new robotic prosthetics, which can perform more naturally.
Researchers have developed a sensor-instrumented glove for prosthetic hand controls which can sense pressure, temperature, and hydration using electronic chips sending sensory data via a wristwatch.
A newly developed simultaneous brain-machine interface allowed a quadriplegic man to control two prosthetic arms with the power of his mind.
A newly developed robotic thumb imprints how the hand is represented in the brain. Using the robotic thumb, researchers reported improvements in conducting dexterity tasks, such as building with blocks. Additionally, those who trained to use the additional thumb began to feel as though the digit was a part of their body.
A prosthetic arm that is attached to the bone and controlled by electrodes implanted in nerves and muscles can operate more precisely than conventional prosthetic limbs. Researchers improved the neuroprosthetic hand by integrating tactile sensory feedback, so the patient can "feel" items.
Researchers have developed a novel hybrid machine learning approach to muscle gesture recognition in prosthetic arms.
Following targeted motor and sensory reinnervation, a procedure that reroutes residual limb nerves to intact muscles and skin in amputees, the brain remaps both motor and sensory pathways. Additionally, researchers note, TMSR may help counteract poorly adapted cortical plasticity following amputation.
After a year of using a bionic arm, patients report subjective sensations did not shift to match the location of the touch sensor on their prosthetic device.
