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Scientists use nerve signals to make a prosthetic arm move with a thought

Scientists have created sensors which would allow an amputee to control a prosthetic limb simply by thinking about moving it.

The sensors interpret the electrical signals sent by spinal motor neurons as commands. Traditionally, robotic prosthetic arms have been controlled by the user twitching muscles in their shoulder or arm. The trouble with this is that the prosthetic can only perform one or two commands.

“This drawback means that globally around 40-50 per cent of users discard this type of robotic prosthetic,” reports Imperial College London.

Head of the research project, Dr Dario Farina says that the team decided to shift focus from muscle control to nerve control because it has the potential to make robotic prosthetic limbs more useful for amputees.

“When an arm is amputated the nerve fibres and muscles are also severed, which means that it is very difficult to get meaningful signals from them to operate a prosthetic,” explained Farina.

In experiments conducted with six volunteers, the researchers found that the amputees were able to use the sensor-based prosthetic to move the elbow joint, move their wrist from side-to-side and even open and close their hands.

Granted, the volunteers had to undergo a surgical procedure in which healthy nerves which control hand and arm movements were rerouted to the arm or pectoral muscles to provide clearer signals for the sensors to read but the results are already incredibly promising.

The scientists hope to decipher more electrical signals coming from the motor neuron system so that amputees could use this type of limb as if it were their own.

This system still needs to undergo extensive clinical testing with a greater number of volunteers but if all goes well the current model could be commercially viable within three years.

[Image – CC BY SA 2.0 Mandroid]

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