Neuroprosthetics - changing the prosthetics game

The invention of 3D printers, quickly followed by their availability and open-sourced instructions the world has become a little more tangible for amputees.  

A neuroprosthetic in its simplest form must be able to provide feedback with the wearer's nervous system about the prosthetic's movement.  This could be in the forms of input (prosthetic sends signals) or output (prosthetic receives input).  Without a meaningful relationship of neural input and output, the body is not capable of creating a smooth and functional movement and (as in previous attempts at neuroprosthetic) can even lead to such severe clumsiness as injury.  For example, without knowing how much pressure one is applying when they grasp and pick up any object they are most likely to either drop it or crush it.  Building a system that recreates the natural sensations of touch would be the ultimate ideal for amputees with a prosthetic.  Unfortunately, while this has already developed into a reality, it has been financially unreachable for the vast majority of amputees.


This is exactly what Aadeel Akhtar and his team is working on.  They have (after many trials and errors) built a prosthetic hand that not only can be 3D printed, but can also be adapted to provide both input and output.  Being open-sourced and 3D printed is extremely important, for two basic reasons.  First, it brings down the cost of building a prosthetic by two orders of magnitude (100 times less costly) and, it allows for it to be made anywhere there is access to a 3D printer.  They have called this masterpiece the Tact hand.  The Tact hand is capable not only of making the regularly used hand motions, but making them exactly as the user would or did naturally, because it uses a short training period to "learn" to correlate the neural firings with the desired motion.  This design is not only enormously cheaper than its comparable products, it seems to be out performing them.





"Hardware is no longer a barrier to the development of more sophisticated devices. Today, neuroprosthetics researchers are exploring applications in motor, sensory, visual, auditory, and speech areas."



This technology is growing rapidly, and is even effecting the technologies of integrated exoskeletons, as this man used in 2014.

A spinal cord–injured patient using a brain-controlled exoskeleton to kick off the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.









Slade, Patrick, Aadeel Akhtar, Mary Nguyen, and Timothy Bretl. "Tact: Design and Performance of an Open-Source, Affordable, Myoelectric Prosthetic Hand."

Leuthardt, E., & Roland, J. (2014, November 1). Neuroprosthetics. Retrieved from http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/41324/title/Neuroprosthetics/
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/41324/title/Neuroprosthetics/