Medicine has evolved a great deal thanks to the advancement and development of technology in recent decades. There are many machines that have been created that have made it possible to detect diseases earlier and consequently to initiate treatment earlier, thus saving the lives of many people. Prosthetics have also been developed for different parts of the body so that they can be used by people who have lost some part of the body due to an accident.
On this occasion, a group of researchers from an academic medical center in the United States has managed to connect a bionic arm prosthesis to the brain of a patient. The team’s goal was to create a prosthesis that would function like a natural limb and give the user the sensation of the sense of touch.
A prosthesis that acts like a natural limb
The prosthesis was built from a standard product. However, what differentiates this prosthesis from others is that the researchers integrated what they call “high-level computing” along with the tactile sensation and the movement sensation in the device.
Therefore, on the outside it may look like a bionic arm identical to many others that have been manufactured, but inside it has very sophisticated and state-of-the-art systems that provide more feedback to the user than other similar devices.
In fact, according to one of the researchers, it is the first bionic prosthesis that allows the user to think, behave and function as they did before undergoing the amputation.
To advance the investigation, two candidates who had an amputated arm were used. They were fitted with this new bionic arm and both were able to do different tasks with the same precision as people with both limbs.
Recovery of the sense of touch
The device can connect to the user’s brain using nerves in the extremities to allow them to move their arm just by thinking about it.
The prosthesis can instantly send sensory information to the brain about how the hand moves and when it touches something. Therefore, users who have it connected may feel that they are moving their hand without actually having it. The same thing happens with the fingers, they can feel that they touch things without owning them.
Once all the systems are combined in the bionic arm, the patient’s brain feels that the device is natural.
This will help the research team in the future to apply this knowledge that has been discovered in future studies and thus continue to improve and optimize all the technology that has to do with bionic prostheses.
