The devices could help those who are paralyzed or have no limbs

Oct 6, 2011 18:01 GMT  ·  By
New generations of prosthetic devices could appear on the market within 3 years
   New generations of prosthetic devices could appear on the market within 3 years

Duke University Medical Center investigators announce the development of a new generation of prosthetic devices, which they say can be used to restore sensation to people who have lost one or more of their limbs, or who are paralyzed following accidents.

According to the team, the basis for the new devices is made up of a method of feeling without actually touching the target object. What this means is that the advanced prosthetic devices send their impulses directly to the human brain.

Up until now, the approach has only been tested on lab mice, but results have been very encouraging. The team believes that the technique could be transferred and converted to human use, Space reports.

Unlike traditional medical devices, neural prosthetics are controlled and operated directly through nerve impulses, which are harvested from their respective pathways by electrodes, and then converted to digital data in a computer.

These flows of 1s and 0s are then used to control robotic arms and legs, as well as exoskeleton prosthetics that can fit an entire human within. Within less than three years, devices that use the newly-developed technology could make their way to the market, expert Miguel Nicolelis explains.

The expert – who was a researcher on the new study – holds an appointment as a Duke Medical Center physician and neurobiologist. “I like to say that we actually liberated the brain from the physical limits of the monkey's body. He can move and feel using the brain only,” he says.

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) currently boasts the world's most advanced robotic arm. The brain-controlled device is scheduled to enter clinical tests in 2012.

One of the main challenges with constructing such an interface is not necessarily the harvesting of brain impulses, but also developing a functional feedback mechanism. Such a capability would ensure that sensory data is also sent back to the brain, after a stimulus is encountered.

Sight alone is insufficient to provide the necessary coordination. With the new technology, it may be possible to transmit data into the brain's sensory centers. A patient would experience these impulses as if they were actually feeling them with specialized receptors on their skin.

Details of how the new technology functions were published in the October 5 issue of the top scientific journal Nature.

“We think we can do this in the next three years or so. We are hoping that a teenager who was quadriplegic until then will be able to walk into the opening game and kick the opening ball of the World Cup,” Nicolelis concludes.