New robotic limbs controlled by mind

Hello, take any object, raise your hand to ask for the bill in a restaurant or something as seemingly simple as walking are some of the actions that people who, having suffered the amputation of their limbs or had paralysis, can not carried out. Therefore, there are many cases in which they turn to the implementation of an artificial arm or leg.

So far, the moves could be made with these synthetic members have been quite small, but technological advances are helping to reduce these limitations.

A group of scientists formed by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University, located in Maryland, both in the U.S., has managed to increase the degree of mobility of some robotic limbs that are controlled by the mind.

They have succeeded in developing a modular prosthesis of the limbs (MPL), a bionic tip made ​​of a combination of carbon fiber and high strength alloys.

Characteristics of the prosthesis

This tip has 22 ° of freedom of motion (human arm has 30 degrees) and can pick up objects accurately without crushing fragile. In additionthe wrist the elbow of the prosthesis rotate with ease and, as a human limb, weighs 4.5 kilos.

"I would say is close to human skill," predicts Michael McLoughlin, responsible for developing one of these prostheses in the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL, for its acronym in English) from Johns Hopkins. "You can not do everything. For example, you can hollow the palm of the hand, but you can control all the fingers individually. Do not think there is another member who comes to this," says the researcher.

A prototype of the modular prosthesis has been tested by amputees and both arms. To do this, by surgery, researchers redirected lost nerves that normally control the arm to the chest muscle. There, the electrodes that guide robotic limb interpret nerve signals and perform the movement.