Mind-Controlled Prosthetic Arm Can Wiggle Its Fingers
Prosthetic research has progressed rapidly over the past few years, with researchers demonstrating increasingly fine and complex control, in some cases using direct brain connects to facilitate the movements. The industry has just unveiled yet another milestone, with John Hopkins researchers successfully demonstrating individual prosthetic finger movements performed via mind control.
The prosthetic arm was created by researchers at John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; it utilizes brain mapping to essentially 'read' mind-control orders from the operator. In this case, a volunteer who was already undergoing brain mapping at the university's hospital for an unrelated condition was able to move the prosthetic's fingers by thinking, and without first undergoing extensive training.
Said John Hopkins University School of Medicine Professor Nathan Crone, who was also the study's senior author:
We believe this is the first time a person using a mind-controlled prosthesis has immediately performed individual digit movements without extensive training. This technology goes beyond available prostheses, in which the artificial digits, or fingers, moved as a single unit to make a grabbing motion, like one used to grip a tennis ball.
The project involved first mapping the parts of the volunteer's brain that were responsible for finger movements, doing so while he moved his own finger. The prosthetic limb was then programed to associate the brain mapping data with the finger movements.
Once that was finished, the prosthetic was turned on and wired to the electrodes already placed in the volunteer. He then thought about moving his fingers, and the prosthetic corresponded by moving each digit as commanded. The accuracy was fairly high, initially being 76-percent and then later on being 88-percent after some tweaking.
That tweaking involved combining the ring and pinkie fingers, the reason for which is an overlap in the brain regions that control the two fingers. Many humans, for example, have trouble moving those two fingers independently, instead having one move in response when the other is deliberately manipulated.
In a somewhat similar effort, DARPA detailed a prosthetic limb late last year that allowed a paralyzed man to 'feel' objects. The prosthetic is sensitive enough to touch that individual fingers can be used to discern individual sensations — in this case, the prosthesis was connected directly to the patient's brain. The prosthesis was demonstrated under DARPA's Revolutionizing Prosthetics program.
While commercially available limbs such as these won't be available for a long while, such breakthroughs tease that the reality is growing closer every day.
SOURCE: EurekAlert
Note: Image above shows a DARPA prosthetic limb.