The Rise of Neuroprosthetics

The field of neuroprosthetics has made drastic leaps in advancement over the past decade, due the rise in technology such as 3D printing. Last year, at the FIFA world cup kickoff in Brazil, a 29 year old paraplegic was able to make the symbolic first kick of the games (Figure 2).  The system used to make this happen was a mix of a battery-powered exoskeleton suit controlled by an electroencephalogram (EEG) cap, which sensed brain waves, along with muscle movements being picked up by sensors in the suit. A professor at Drexel’s Biomedical Engineering School, Karen Moxon PhD, discussed how this technology is aiding neuroscientists map new areas of brain functioning. Experiments using prosthetics allow researchers, like Moxon who studies how the brain encodes for the passage of time, to directly determine the causal relationship between the subject’s behavior and the actions of brain cells, as subjects must think about the movement and goal of the movement with their brain adjusting in the moment without the feedback from a real body part.

Figure 2: Scientists working on the Walk Again Project

While the international collaboration that is the Walk Again project represents an approximate $14 million dollar investment of the Brazilian government, millions aren’t needed for this type of technology to be made available for public use. For under $250, using off-the-shelf parts, a customized prosthetic hand can be made for those with amputations in developing countries, as seen through the work of Aadeel Akhtar, and his team (see figure 1).  Durability, and functionality without sacrificing the low price were key elements in the design, along with making it easily accessible with DIY instructions available online, aiding in increased manufacturability.

Figure 1: Tact Hand, developed by Aadeel Akhtar 

and his team at University of Illinois

This myoelectric hand is able to match or exceed the performance specifications of leading commercial prosthetics, being able to grasp common household objects, exceeding the average finger flexion/extension speed, having a lower mass reducing pain and fatigue of the wearer, while a fraction of the cost due the use of 3D printing using durable plastics.

Advancements like these bring hope to the over 30 million amputees living in low income countries, for high quality prosthetic care that is affordable and easy to maintain. Hopefully more collaborative efforts between biomedical engineers and neuroscientists will occur to allow further advancements, such as the ability of the wearer to regain some sensory feedback.

 Drexel University. "What can brain-controlled prosthetics tell us about the brain?."

ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 April 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150408124626.htm>.

P. Slade, A. Akhtar, M. Nguyen, T. Bretl. (2015). Tact: Design and performance of an open-source, affordable, myoelectric prosthetic hand. The International 

                 Conference on Robotics and Automation, Seattle, WA.