Neurotechnologies return touch to paralyzed people
marks, Geektimes, based on DARPA materials: Neurotechnology Provides Near-Natural Sense of TouchA 28-year–old patient who has been paralyzed for more than ten years (the cause is spinal cord injury) can again "touch" various objects.
This was made possible thanks to a prosthetic arm connected to the human brain, while the patient feels the touch of each of the fingers of the prosthesis.
The development is part of the DARPA Revolutionizing Prosthetics program, which aims to develop advanced prosthetics that can be controlled by thought, plus "touch". According to program manager Justin Sanchez, prosthetics controlled by thought are good, but not enough. For complete control over the prosthesis, a person must also feel his artificial limb. In this case, the movements will be clear, verified. As part of the project, electrodes that transmit an electrical signal were implanted into the sensitive area of the cerebral cortex of a paralyzed person.
The zone itself is responsible for the sense of touch, therefore, with the correct transmission of the signal, a person should feel a touch, in the literal sense of feeling.
The prosthesis was connected to the human brain using wires, not wireless communication. As a result, the patient was able not only to control the manipulator with the help of thought, but also began to feel the touch of the manipulator. According to the volunteer, there is even a slight touch to the "fingers" of the prosthesis. To do this, each of the "fingers" has a built-in sensor that responds to mechanical action. The accuracy of the entire system was 100% – that is, in 100% of cases, the patient was able to tell which "finger" of the prosthesis the researcher touched. The feeling, according to the volunteer, is similar to the feeling of touching one's own hand.
After that, the researchers, without saying anything to the patient, squeezed two "fingers" at once, instead of one. And the patient felt it by asking who touched the prosthesis.
Basic information on the study has already been published by scientists here: Wait, What? A Future Technology Forum (on the video – the report of J.Sanchez).
In the future, an article with the results of the project will be published in one of the authoritative medical journals.
In addition to the Revolutionizing Prosthetics project, DARPA is currently implementing other projects related to neurotechnologies. These are, for example, Restoring Active Memory (RAM) and Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS).
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17.09.2015