Prosthetic arms with 'human like functions' becomes clinical reality

A new research has revealed about mind-controlled prosthetic arms becoming clinical reality, which will work in daily life.

Lead author Max Ortiz Catalan from University of Technology said that going beyond the lab to allow the patient to face real-world challenges is the main contribution of this work.

Catalan added that they have used osseointegration to create a long-term stable fusion between man and machine, where they have integrated them at different levels.

Catalan continued that the artificial arm is directly attached to the skeleton, thus providing mechanical stability and hen the human's biological control system, that is nerves and muscles, is also interfaced to the machine's control system via neuromuscular electrodes, which creates an intimate union between the body and the machine, between biology and mechatronics.

Catalan further added that reliable communication between the prosthesis and the body has been the missing link for the clinical implementation of neural control and sensory feedback, and this is now in place and so far they have shown that the patient has a long-term stable ability to perceive touch in different locations in the missing hand.

Catalan said that intuitive sensory feedback and control are crucial for interacting with the environment, for example to reliably hold an object despite disturbances or uncertainty and today, no patient walks around with a prosthesis that provides such information, but they are working towards changing that in the very short term.

The study is published in the Science Translational Medicine journal.