The ability to hold and move objects relies on sensory signals sent from the hand to the brain, a faculty that amputees lack with current prosthetic limbs. But new research from the University of Chicago may one day result in touch-sensitive prosthetic limbs that communicate directly with the brain.
The researchers, led by Sliman Bensmaia, assistant professor in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago, believe their research could help to increase both the dexterity and function of robotic limbs.
Through experiments with monkeys, he and his team pinpointed neural activity patterns that occur when the animals manipulate objects, and then they were able to successfully recreate these patterns artificially.
"To restore sensory motor function of an arm," Bensmaia says, "you not only have to replace the motor signals that the brain sends to the arm to move it around, but you also have to replace the sensory signals that the arm sends back to the brain."
He and his team believe that by using what they know "about how the brain of the intact organism processes sensory information," they can then "try to reproduce these patterns of neural activity through stimulation of the brain."
The research from Bensmaia and colleagues is part of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project, called Revolutionizing Prosthetics. The aim of the project is to create an artificial upper limb that will provide natural motor control and sensation in patients with amputations.
Results of their research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Same perception of artificial and genuine stimuli
One set of experiments worked with the site where skin has been touched. The researchers trained the monkeys to correctly identify different patterns of touch with their fingers.
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