Browsing Category: Prosthetics

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

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

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 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

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

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 […]

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

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

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 […]