Breakthrough in Prosthetics Technology
With the current trend of scientific advancements moving so quickly, it seems difficult to keep up. Case in point is the recent innovation of prosthetic limbs that are controlled by the user’s mind.
Currently in the testing phase, the project is headed by The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, who were awarded the $34.5 million dollar contract. The project, which is in its fourth year, hopes to develop a kind of prosthetics that would utilize a “brain controlled interface.”
This project is being collaborated on by teams all over the country. Efforts at the University of Pittsburgh, the California Institute of Technology, and the University of Chicago are all lending a hand to its success.
The program manager from Johns Hopkins, Michael McLoughlin, says, “The results of this program will help upper-limb amputees and spinal cord injury patients, as well as others who have lost the ability to use their natural limbs, to have as normal a life as possible.”
McLoughlin and his team are making extraordinary developments in the field of prosthetics. Some of these developments include implantable micro-arrays that have the capability to record brain signals, in addition to safely implantable neural interfaces which control prosthetic limbs.
McLoughlin explains, “Now, in phase three, we are ready to test it with humans to demonstrate that the system can be operated with a patient’s thoughts and that it can provide that patient with sensory feedback, restoring the sensation of touch.
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Posted by Brett Nordin
on Mar 9 2011. Filed under Featured News, Health.
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