Even with advanced technology,
there are many disabled people caused by the war or mistakes. People weren’t
able to cure disabled people but now. Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA) has been working on prosthetic limbs controlled by brain interfaces, but
DARPA doesn’t have any good result from it. However, DARPA got a good result to
make prosthetic limbs controlled by nerve and muscle interface recently.
Reliable Neural-Interface Technology (RE-NET) from DARPA researched new
peripheral interfaces using signals from nerves and muscles to both control
prosthetics and to prive direct sensory feedback.
“Although the
current generation of brain, or cortical, interfaces have been used to control
many degrees of freedom in an advanced prosthesis, researchers are still
working on improving their long-term viability and performance,” said Jack
Judy, DARPA program manager. “The novel peripheral interfaces developed under
RE-NET are approaching the level of control demonstrated by cortical interfaces
and have better biotic and abiotic performance and reliability. Because
implanting them is a lower risk and less invasive procedure, peripheral
interfaces offer greater potential than penetrating cortical electrodes for
near-term treatment of amputees. RE-NET program advances are already being made
available to injured warfighters in clinical settings.”
A team of researchers
at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) demonstrated a type of
peripheral interface called targeted muscle re-innervation (TMR). By rewiring
nerves from amputated limbs, new interfaces allow for prosthetic control with
existing muscles. Former Army Staff Sgt. Glen Lehman, injured in Iraq, recently
demonstrated improved TMR technology. In the following video, Lehman
demonstrates simultaneous joint control of a prosthetic arm made possible by
support from the RE-NET program.
Researchers at Case Western
Reserve University used a flat interface nerve electrode (FINE) to demonstrate
direct sensory feedback. By interfacing with residual nerves in the patient’s
partial limb, some sense of touch by the fingers is restored. Other existing
prosthetic limb control systems rely solely on visual feedback. Unlike visual
feedback, direct sensory feedback allows patients to move a hand without
keeping their eyes on it—enabling simple tasks, like rummaging through a bag
for small items, not possible with today’s prosthetics. The Case Western
Reserve University video shows how direct sensory feedback makes some tasks
easier. Case Western also received funding from the Department of Veterans
Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development,
Rehabilitation Research and Development Service at the Louis Stokes Cleveland
Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The FINE is one of many different types of
nerve interfaces developed under the RE-NET program.
Result of this technology is
going to be significant; although this technology might be worse than one using
brain interfaces directly, this can help many disabled people! Since 2000,
there are more than 2,000 service members have suffered amputated limbs. Also,
there are people who lost their limbs because of serious accidents. This
technology would definitely help those people! Current prosthetic limbs will
just help people to barely move their limbs, but with DARPA’s RE-NET, people
can have prosthetic limbs with feeling; this is far superior than current one;
although this will just help people to barely feel, if people can advance in
this technology, people will have the prosthetic limbs that people can feel and
moves based on brain interface.
Also, this technology makes
people to take one more step closer to immortality; this might be exaggeration
for now, but think about it. If people can basically create prosthetic limbs
that are connected to brain and work like real limbs, it means that body doesn’t
really matter anymore! People just have to extend this technology to organs,
and even to brain, and that might be the key to immortality!
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