The tales of wooden peg legs and hooks for hands are way behind us as prosthetics evolve through the years. Advancements in technology are giving those who lost limbs or were born without one, a chance at a normal life. Here are some tech innovations that will see to that.
Artificial Intelligence
AI has been used for a lot of things nowadays, so why not on prosthetics too? That paired with machine learning can create systems that will allow amputees to move their prostheses intuitively. One example is COAPT, a biotechnology company based in Chicago.
Sensors will be put on the amputee's stump which will receive commands coming from the user's brain. These commands will then be sent to the prosthetic arm through the sensors and the control panel within the prosthetic, as mentioned in ASME.
COAPT sensorizes the electrodes coming from the limb and around it, and they use the algorithms they've developed to decode what the intent of the user was when the myoelectric signals are received by the sensors.
3D Printers
Prosthetics can be a little expensive, with some costing thousands of dollars. The COAPT myoelectric arm prosthetic can cost around $10,000 each, and it may even cost another $10,000 for fitting one with the manufacturer's control system.
A 3D-printed prosthesis can cost substantially less, even as low as $50. Materials used for 3D printing are not as expensive as what is standardly used for prosthetics. This can be helpful to those who can't afford to drop tens of thousands for a prosthesis.
Bone-Anchored Prosthesis
Integrum, a company in Sweden, provides innovative systems that attach the prosthetic arm to the amputee's bone. Swedish researchers conducted detailed tests on patients with mind-controlled prosthetics over a span of seven years.
Electrodes are implanted in the muscles and nerves of the limb, and the electrical interface is made possible by the connector placed at the end of the screws. Neuromuscular electrodes communicate with the sensors in the body and into the prosthesis.
The difference with this kind of prosthesis is unlike others, its users won't be able to take it off as they will. It is attached to their bones to provide mechanical stability, and it is done through a process called osseointegration.
Prosthetics that Send Back Sensation
Prosthetics are meant to replace the limbs that amputees have to regain function, like walking or balancing. However, innovation has made it possible for a prosthesis to feel like it's actually a limb connected to your system.
Neuroprosthetics make it possible not only to send the brain's commands to the prosthesis, but it can also to send information back. The prosthesis has electronic sensors that transmit wireless signals about the position, force, and other variables, as mentioned in Amplitude.
The signals will then travel back to the amputee's stump, which will then travel to the brain through the peripheral nerve. Once the brain has received the feedback, it will seem as though they have felt something through the prosthesis.
A Universal Hardware System
Researchers that are constantly improving their bionic prosthetics use different hardware systems, which creates a barrier that prevents them from learning from others, and also makes for a costly bill for the people they build it for.
Elliott Rouse, a graduate student at Northwestern University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, developed a blueprint that can be used by all and shared it in the "Nature Biomedical Engineering" journal.
This created a standardized foundation that gives researchers the chance to collaborate with other people in the industry without the restrictions of having different systems, which according to the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab's director of biomedicine, will save millions of dollars.
