The future prosthesis reproduces the lost sensation of "touch" and "move"

Scientists dreaming of the future of Luke Skywalker's Luke Skywalker in the movie "Star Wars" have designed a "bionic arm" (electro -powered hand).This prosthesis reproduces the feeling that a person who has lost his upper limb will lose at the same time with the support of a small robot.The robot achieves this by giving a safe vibration to the muscles of the cutting site.

According to a 2021 report of Grand View Research, the world's prosthetic orthodox market will be more than $ 8 billion by 2028.But the prosthesis faced a mechanical problem.For example, it is not possible to communicate a variety of intuitive sensations that are useful for everyday life, such as the feeling of closing and opening hands, to the users of the prosthesis.

"We are still using the level of technology that we have reached during World War II," explained, Paul Marasco, Associate Professor of Medical Biological and Industries at the Cleveland Clinic Larner Institute.He is also the first author of a new bionic arm, released on SCIENSE ROBOTICS on September 1st.

The bionic arm developed by the research group is a hybrid with metal and realistic skin.

Many teams are working on a bionic arm, but MARASCO introduced some advantages of his team's bionic arm.

This SF -like prosthesis transmits information in both directions between the brain and fingertips via a high -performance robot of about half of the match box.At the same time, you can convey what you thought in your brain to your arms and turn it into your actions, and at the same time convey the sense of your arms to your brain.

This prosthesis is not only the first bionic arm to verify multiple indicators at the same time, which is better than a typical prosthesis.These indicators indicate that it reproduces a natural mechanism that is sufficient to recover the unconscious reflection of the person who uses this prosthesis.

Our daily life is supported by these unconscious reflections.For example, when you lift a cup of coffee, your hand finds a cup on the table, grasps the handle with a moderate strength, and lifts it at a speed when the coffee does not spill.Even if we are asleep in the morning, this series of movements can be unconsciously reacts to our nerve in the arm muscles (in this case, "we need to drink coffee").From.

Until now, the prosthesis could not reproduce such a smooth movement because of the manual operation.People who use prosthesis must always look at the prosthesis, and they must concentrate on their consciousness even if they do it intuitively.

When two subjects tested this prosthesis and used a new analysis tool, the subject intuitively grabs the object, or keeps an eye on the prosthesis, and moves naturally.It turned out that he had regained the reflex behavior before losing.

This prosthetic hand is mainly composed of three parts.It is a mini robot, a mini robot that plays the role of the control center, a mini -robot reorganization at the end of the cutting surface.

First, a surgical treatment has been removed from the nerve endless nerve ending of the normal part of the arm, and it is "inserted into the cut part" for the lost part, such as fingertips.

"The brain determines that my finger is connected to my muscles. I'm not aware of whether the muscles are on the shoulder or on the forearm," Marasco explained.

Next, a bionic arm with a mini robot installed on the socket is attached to the cut surface.The mini robot compresses the areas related to the five fingers on the cut surface, and when the cuter is aware of the arm, it stimulates the end of the nerve.

"Citizers can produce something really interesting by vibrating muscles. It's a complex hand movement illusion." (MARASCO)

In the development of this bionic arm, researchers remodeled existing prostheses, rather than designed from zero.That is because it can quickly provide the device to the rehabilitation clinic and make it more expensive than conventional prosthesis.These existing prosthetic users tend to overuse the body side of the left arms, which hurt their back and shoulders, causing medical expenses.

"These advanced systems are more expensive when starting to use, but they don't have to be aware of their existence during use, so they won't break their bodies.Mr)

This article is edited by Asahi Interactive for an article from overseas Red Ventures for Japan.