Category: BCI

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BCI Brain Prosthetics

Intent controlled prosthetic foot using myoelectric sensors

Ossur‘s sensor implant allows amputees to control  bionic prosthetic limbs with their minds.  Myoelectric sensors are surgically placed in residual muscle tissue.  Prosthetic movement is triggered via a receiver.

Ossur’s existing “smart limbs”  are capable of real-time learning and automatically adjust to a user’s gait, speed and terrain.   However,  conscious thought is still required.

According to Thorvaldur Ingvarsson, the company’s R&D lead, “the (implant) technology allows the user’s experience with their prosthesis to become more intuitive and integrative. The result is the instantaneous physical movement of the prosthesis however the amputee intended. They no longer need to think about their movements because their unconscious reflexes are automatically converted into myoelectric impulses that control their Bionic prosthesis.”

WEARABLE TECH + DIGITAL HEALTH NYC 2015 – JUNE 30 @ NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.  REGISTER HERE.

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BCI Brain Prosthetics

Implant to enable prosthetic sensations

Washington University‘s Daniel Moran has received a DARPA grant to test a device that would stimulate nerves in the upper arm and forearm of prosthetic users.  The goal is for the wearer to be able to feel hot, cold, and a sense of touch.  In a related development last year, MC10‘s Roozbeh Ghaffari developed artificial skin for prosthetics that mimics the sensitivity of real skin.  Its silicon and gold sensors detect pressure, moisture, heat and cold (see ApplySci, 12/30/14).

Moran’s electrode is designed to stimulate sensory nerve cells in the ulnar and median nerves in the arms. The ulnar nerve is the largest  in the body unprotected by muscle or bone and is connected to the ring finger and pinkie finger on the hand. The median nerve in the upper arm and shoulder is connected to the other fingers on the hand. Together, the two nerves control movement and sensations including touch, pressure, vibration, heat, cold and pain in all of the fingers.

This novel  macro-sieve peripheral nerve interface is designed to stimulate regeneration of the ulnar and median nerves to transmit information back into the central nervous system.

The device is in an early stage, and will only be implanted in non-human primates at this time.

WEARABLE TECH + DIGITAL HEALTH NYC 2015 – JUNE 30 @ NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.  

EARLY REGISTRATION RATE ENDS TODAY, 5/15/15.

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BCI Brain EEG

Discreet EEG sticker monitors brain activity

University of Illinois professor John Rogers has made another breakthrough in flexible medical electronics. His team has created an EEG system that sticks to the skin behind one’s ear to monitor brain activity. The miniature, lightweight, gold electrode device sticks to the skin without adhesive, and can be worn continuously for 2 weeks.

While not yet precise or fast enough to replace traditional EEG, study participants were able to spell the word “computer” on a screen using their brain’s electrical activity.

Rogers is now concentrating on refining the device for medical applications, and making it wireless.  In a related Neuron paper, he describes advances in soft electronic interface technologies for neuroscience research.

Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC 2015 – June 30 @ the New York Academy of Sciences, features Professor Rogers’ MC10 colleague, Roozbeh Ghaffari, as a keynote speaker.

EARLY REGISTRATION RATE ENDS TODAY, 4/24

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BCI Brain Conference

Implant could direct images to visual cortex, restore sight

DARPA is in the early stages of developing a “cortical modem” which would enable a simple visual display via a direct interface to the visual cortex.  Its projected cost is 10 US Dollars.

The project lead is Dr Phillip Alvelda.  It was built on Karl Deisseroth‘s optogenetics research — studying and controlling specified cells within living tissue by shining light on them.

While exciting, the realization of the technology is far off, having only been tested on animals.

Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC 2015 – June 30 @ New York Academy of Sciences

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BCI Brain EEG Stroke

Stroke detecting headset prototype

Samsung’s Early Detection Sensor & Algorithm Package (EDSAP), developed by  Se-hoon Lim, is meant to detect early signs of stroke.

A multiple sensor headset records electrical impulses in the brain, algorithms determine the likelihood of a stroke in one minute, and results are presented in a mobile app.  EDSAP can also analyze stress and sleep patterns, and potentially be used to monitor heart activity.  The company believes that the system can one day be built into one’s own glasses.

Wearable Tech + Digital Health NYC 2015 – June 30 @ New York Academy of Sciences

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BCI Brain Prosthetics Robotics

BCI enabled 10-D prosthetic arm control

Jennifer Collinger and University of Pittsburgh colleagues have enabled a prosthetic arm wearer to reach, grasp, and place a variety of objects with 10-D control for the first time.

The trial participant had electrode grids with 96 contact points surgically implanted in her brain in 2012.  This allowed 3-D control of her arm. Each electrode point picked up signals from an individual neuron, which were relayed to a computer to identify the firing patterns associated with observed or imagined movements, such as raising or lowering the arm, or turning the wrist. This was used to direct the movements of a prosthetic arm developed by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.  Three months later, she also could flex the wrist back and forth, move it from side to side and rotate it clockwise and counter-clockwise, as well as grip objects, adding up to 7-D control.

The new study, published yesterday, allowed the participant 10-D control — the ability to move the robot hand into different positions while also controlling the arm and wrist.

To bring the total of arm and hand movements to 10, the pincer grip was replaced by four hand shapes: finger abduction, in which the fingers are spread out; scoop, in which the last fingers curl in; thumb opposition, in which the thumb moves outward from the palm; and a pinch of the thumb, index and middle fingers. As before, the participant watched animations and imagined the movements while the team recorded her brain signals. They used this to read her thoughts so that she could move the hand into various positions.

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BCI Prosthetics Robotics Sensors

NIH “Bionic Man” with 14 sensor and brain controlled functions

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering recently launched the “NIBIB Bionic Man,” an interactive Web tool detailing 14 sensor based technologies they are supporting.  They include:

1. A robotic leg prosthesis that senses a person’s next move and provides powered assistance to achieve a more natural gate.

2. A light sensitive biogel and biological adhesive to help new cartilage grow and become functional.

3. A blood clot emulator used to optimize ventricular assist devices to reduce the risk of blood clots.

4. An artificial kidney that could be used in place of kidney dialysis for treatment of end-stage kidney disease.

5. A micro needle patch that delivers vaccines painlessly and doesn’t require refrigeration.

6. An interstitial pressure sensor to help doctors determine optimal times for delivering chemotherapy/radiation to cancer patients.

7. Glucose-sensing contact lenses to provide a non-invasive solution for continuous blood sugar monitoring.

8. A tongue drive system to help individuals with severe paralysis navigate their environment using only tongue movements.

9. A wireless brain-computer interface that records and transmits brain activity wirelessly and could allow people with paralysis to use their thoughts to control robotic arms or other devices.

10. Implantable myoelectric sensors to detect nerve signals above a missing limb and can use these signals to move a prosthesis in a more natural way.

11. A synthetic glue modeled after an adhesive found in nature that could be used to repair tissues in the body.

12. Focused ultrasound used to temporarily open the blood brain barrier to let gene therapy treatments reach the brain.

13. Flexible electrode arrays that record brain activity from the surface of the brain and could be used to control robotic arms or provide real-time information about brain states.

14. Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord used in individuals with paralysis to help restore voluntary movement and other functions.

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BCI

Noninvasive brain-to-brain communication demonstrated

Giulio Ruffini and colleagues at Starlab  transmitted the words “hola” and “ciao” in binary code from the brain of a person in India to the brains of three people in France.  EEG was used to record the information from the sender’s brain, and robotized transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to deliver the message to the brains of the receivers.

The experiment was published in PLOS ONE last month.

While attached to EEG electrodes, the sender was asked to imagine moving his hands or feet when shown an image that represented a 1 or 0.  The data was transmitted to a computer, translated into binary code, and emailed to the recipients’  system.  The blindfolded recipients received electric pulses from the robotized TMS system in the visual cortex of their brains, triggering the experience of phosphenes: the perception of seeing flashes of light that are not actually there.  They reported verbally when they experienced a flash.  This was translated into binary code and then to the message.

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BCI Brain Heart Wearables

Brain-Computer Interface generated music

At Music Tech Fest in London, multidisciplinary artist Ma Tan won the wearables prize by generating music from his thoughts and heart.  He used a 2 electrode EEG headband developed by Tel Aviv and Brown University professor Nathan Intrator to sense his emotions, and a heart monitor to sense his cardiac activity.

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BCI Brain Epilepsy

DARPA neuromodulation tech for physical and mental health

DARPA‘s ElectRx research program aims to develop high precision, minimally-invasive neuromodulation technologies to treat diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, epilepsy and PTSD.

Implanted ultraminiaturized devices would modulate the peripheral nervous system’s response to infections, injuries or other imbalances.

Project manager Doug Weber claims that ElectRX technologies “would continually assess conditions and provide stimulus patterns tailored to help maintain healthy organ function, helping patients get healthy and stay healthy using their body’s own systems.”

 

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BCI Brain EEG Wearables

EEG enables ALS patients to control devices, communicate

Philips and Accenture are using EEG brainwaves to help ALS patients command electronic devices via a wearable display, a tablet and software. The system can access a medical alert service, a smart TV and wireless lighting, and communicate via pre-configured messages. The wearable display provides visual feedback that allows the user to navigate the application menu.

 

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BCI Brain

Brain controlled car steers, accelerates, brakes

AutoNOMOS and the Freie Universität Berlin  are developing BrainDriver, the first car that steers, accelerates, and brakes based on its driver’s thoughts. In a recent experiment, Henrik Matzke drove a car at speeds up to 31 mph.

Neuro-signals are acquired with a commercial EEG tool. After training with virtual objects in the software toolkit, bioelectric signals measured by the wireless headset are interpreted as patterns associated with directions. Once a pattern can be linked with a command, a software interface sends these to the Drive-By-Wire System of the car ,which converts messages into actions.