Category: Prosthetics

  • AI/EMG system improves prosthetic hand control

    AI/EMG system improves prosthetic hand control

    UT Dallas researchers Mohsen Jafarzadeh, Yonas Tadesse, and colleagues are using AI to control prosthetic hands with raw EMG signals. The real-time convolutional neural network, which does not require preprocessing, results in faster and more accurate data classification and faster hand movements. User data re-trains the system to personalize actions. Join ApplySci at the 12th Wearable Tech…

  • Sensor glove identifies objects

    Sensor glove identifies objects

    MIT’s Subramanian Sundaram has developed a sensor glove that identifies objects through touch.  This could improve assistive robot performance and enhance prosthetic design.The cheap “scalable tactile glove” includes 550 tiny, pressure-capturing sensors.  A neural network uses the data to classify objects and predict their weights.  No visual input is required. In a Nature paper, the system…

  • “Artificial nerve” system for sensory prosthetics, robots

    “Artificial nerve” system for sensory prosthetics, robots

    Stanford’s  Zhenan Bao has developed an artificial sensory nerve system that can activate the twitch reflex in a cockroach and identify letters in the Braille alphabet. Bao describes it as “a step toward making skin-like sensory neural networks for all sorts of applications”  which would include artificial skin that creates a sense of touch in prosthetics. The artificial…

  • DARPA’s Justin Sanchez on driving and reshaping biotechnology | ApplySci @ Stanford

    DARPA’s Justin Sanchez on driving and reshaping biotechnology | ApplySci @ Stanford

    DARPA Biological Technologies Office Director Dr. Justin Sanchez on driving and reshaping biotechnology.  Recorded at ApplySci’s Wearable Tech + Digital Health + Neurotech Silicon Valley conference on February 26-27, 2018 at Stanford University. Join ApplySci at the 9th Wearable Tech + Digital Health + Neurotech Boston conference on September 25, 2018 at the MIT Media…

  • Phillip Alvelda:  More intelligent; less artificial | ApplySci @ Stanford

    Phillip Alvelda: More intelligent; less artificial | ApplySci @ Stanford

    Cortical founder and former DARPA NESD program manager Phillip Alvelda discusses AI and the brain at ApplySci’s Wearable Tech + Digital Health + Neurotech Silicon Valley conference on February 26-27, 2018 at Stanford University: Join ApplySci at the 9th Wearable Tech + Digital Health + Neurotech Boston conference – September 25, 2018 at the MIT Media…

  • Closed loop EEG/BCI/VR/physical therapy system to control gait, prosthetics

    Closed loop EEG/BCI/VR/physical therapy system to control gait, prosthetics

    Earlier this year, University of Houston’s Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal developed a closed-loop BCI/EEG/VR/physical therapy system to control gait as part of a stroke/spinal cord injury rehab program.  The goal was to promote and enhance cortical involvement during walking. In a study, 8 subjects walked on a treadmill while watching an avatar and wearing a 64…

  • Prosthetic “skin” senses force, vibration

    Prosthetic “skin” senses force, vibration

    Jonathan Posner, with University of Washington and UCLA colleagues, has developed a flexible sensor “skin” that can be stretched over prostheses to determine force and vibration. The skin mimics the way a human finger responds to tension and compression, as it slides along a surface or distinguishes among different textures. This could allow users to sense when…

  • Sensor-embedded prosthetic monitors gait, detects infection

    Sensor-embedded prosthetic monitors gait, detects infection

    Jerome Lynch, with ONR and Walter Reed researchers, has developed a “smart” prosthetic leg, with embedded sensors that monitor a wearer’s gait, the condition of the device, and the risk of infection. The Monitoring OsseoIntegrated Prostheses uses a limb which includes a titanium fixture surgically implanted into the femur. Bone grows at the implant’s connection…

  • Deep learning driven prosthetic hand + camera recognize, automate required grips

    Deep learning driven prosthetic hand + camera recognize, automate required grips

    Ghazal Ghazai and Newcastle University colleagues have developed a deep learning driven prosthetic hand + camera system that allow wearers to reach for objects automatically.  Current prosthetic hands are controlled  via a user’s myoelectric signals, requiring learning, practice, concentration and time. A convolutional neural network was trained it with images of  500 graspable objects, and taught  to recognize…

  • Solar powered, highly sensitive, graphene “skin” for robots, prosthetics

    Solar powered, highly sensitive, graphene “skin” for robots, prosthetics

    Professor Ravinder Dahiya, at the University of Glasgow, has created a robotic hand with solar-powered graphene “skin” that he claims is more sensitive than a human hand.  The flexible, tactile, energy autonomous “skin” could be used in health monitoring wearables and in prosthetics, reducing the need for external chargers. (Dahiya is now developing a low-cost…

  • Thought controlled prosthetic arm has human-like movement, strength

    Thought controlled prosthetic arm has human-like movement, strength

    This week at the Pentagon, Johnny Matheny unveiled his DARPA developed prosthetic arm.  The mind-controlled prosthesis has the same size, weight, shape and grip strength of a human arm, and, according to Matheny, can do anything one can do. It is, by all accounts, the most advanced prosthetic limb created to date. The 100 sensor arm…

  • Bionic finger, implanted electrodes, enable amputee to “feel” texture

    Bionic finger, implanted electrodes, enable amputee to “feel” texture

    Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna researchers have developed  a bionic fingertip that allows amputees to feel textures and  differentiate between rough and smooth surfaces. Electrodes were surgically implanted into the upper arm of a man whose arm had been amputated below the elbow.  A machine moved an artificial finger, wired with electrodes,  across…