http://www.dw.de/standing-again-with-nerve-controlled-robotics/a-17280419
Professor Thomas Schildhauer leads a team at Bergmannsheil University Clinic’s “Center for Neuro-Robotic Mobility Training” that uses nerve impulse sensors to help patients walk again. A robotic exoskeleton with sensors affixed to the hips and legs gives paraplegics, Parkinson’s and stroke patients a sense of stability during ambulatory exercises. The robot suit contains numerous sensors that recognize nerve impulses as they flash across the skin. Via a small motor, the suit converts those impulses into motion.
“The brain sends a signal out that typically arrives at the muscle via nerve systems,” said Schildhauer. For patients capable of some movement, “Small impulses can still be discovered in the muscles. And they can be measured and recorded on the skin. That signal is then amplified in the robot and moves the motors of the exoskeleton.”
Such robot-supported training, Schildhauer says, “seems to build up and expand the remaining muscle functions, and the brain structures, too, that haven’t been used for a long time.” Movement patterns, he added, are then re-trained. “It seems to cause the patient to fall back into many of the old, usual cycles of movement, and results in them being able to walk again.”
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