Thought Controlled Bionic Hand Research Receives Funding

Researchers at the University of Utah have received a $1.4 million grant to further develop an implantable neural interface that will allow an amputee to move an advanced prosthetic hand with just his or her thoughts.

 

The Utah Slanted Electrode Array uses 100 electrodes that connect with nerves in an amputee’s arm to read signals form the brain telling the hand how to move. It then delivers meaningful sensations of touch and movement from a prosthetic hand back to the brain. Professor Gregory Clark said:

People won’t have to do anything differently from what they’d already learnt how to do with their real hand. They’ll just think what they normally think and the prosthetic hand will move.

Gregory hopes the Utah Slanted Electrode Array will give users of his prosthetic hand over 20 types of hand and wrist movements by using electrical signals from the remaining nerves and muscles. The funding is part of DARPA’S Hand Proprioception and Touch Interfaces programme, which aims to create an artificial limb that is so realistic, it can provide a psychological benefit to the wearer. DARPA programme manager Doug Weber added:

We have the opportunity to not only significantly improve an amputee’s ability to control a prosthetic limb, but to make a profound, positive psychological impact. Amputees view existing prostheses as if they were tools, like a wrench, used only to perform a specific job, so many people abandon their prosthesis unless absolutely needed. We believe (the new prosthetic limb) will create a sensory experience so rich and vibrant that the user will want to wear his or her prosthesis full time, and accept it as a natural extension of the body.