Photo of a current neural implant, that uses wires to transmit information and receive power, by Sergey Stavisky
Stanford researchers have been working for years to advance a technology that could one day help people with paralysis regain use of their limbs, and enable amputees to use their thoughts to control prostheses and interact with computers.
The team has been focusing on improving a brain-computer interface, a device implanted beneath the skull on the surface of a patient’s brain. This implant connects the human nervous system to an electronic device that might, for instance, help restore some motor control to a person with a spinal cord injury, or someone with a neurological condition like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The current generation of these devices record enormous amounts of neural activity, then transmit these brain signals through wires to a computer. But when researchers have tried to create wireless brain-computer interfaces to do this, it took so much power to transmit the data that the devices would generate too much heat to be safe for the patient.
The way to a wireless device
Now, a team led by electrical engineers and neuroscientists Krishna Shenoy, PhD, and Boris Murmann, PhD, and neurosurgeon and neuroscientist Jaimie Henderson, MD, have shown how it would be possible to create a wireless device, capable of gathering and transmitting accurate neural signals, but using a tenth of the power required by current wire-enabled systems. These wireless devices would look more natural than the wired models and give patients freer range of motion.
Graduate student Nir Even-Chen and postdoctoral fellow Dante Muratore, PhD, describe the team’s approach in a Nature Biomedical Engineering paper.
The team’s neuroscientists identified the specific neural signals needed to control a prosthetic device, such as a robotic arm or a computer cursor. The team’s electrical engineers then designed the circuitry that would enable a future, wireless brain-computer interface to process and transmit these these carefully identified and isolated signals, using less power and thus making it safe to implant the device on the surface of the brain.
Testing the idea
To test their idea, the researchers collected neuronal data from three nonhuman primates and one human participant in a (BrainGate) clinical trial.
As the subjects performed movement tasks, such as positioning a cursor on a computer screen, the researchers took measurements. The findings validated their hypothesis that a wireless interface could accurately control an individual’s motion by recording a subset of action-specific brain signals, rather than acting like the wired device and collecting brain signals in bulk.
The next step will be to build an implant based on this new approach and proceed through a series of tests toward the ultimate goal.
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Electronic prostheses
- Researchers hope graphene foam sensors can give prosthetics ‘human touch’
Researchers are hoping graphene foam sensors will help transform prosthetics and robotic limbs, allowing them to mimic the sensitivity and feedback of the human touch. The project, led in part by the ...
- Malaysia’s smoking ban proposal aims to reduce cancer risk, but the Bill divides opinion
If lawmakers vote yes this week, Malaysia will be the second country in the world to enact tobacco generational endgame legislation, after New Zealand.
- With more funding, Kentucky-based software startup gears up for growth
A Kentucky startup is gearing up for growth as it aims to change the orthotic and prosthetic industries. The idea for nymbl.systems came to founder Josh Lau while he was working in IT consulting for ...
- "I never felt like I fit in": The 17-year-old girl in need of a bionic arm after being born with limb deficiency
"Growing up I always had to find different ways to do things, and noticed I was different from everybody else early on" ...
- Electronic Skin Can 'Feel' Pain for Robots, Prosthetics
Researchers have developed an electronic skin (e-skin) that can detect sensations similar to the ones human feel when they are experiencing pain, paving the way for more life-like prosthetic devices ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Electronic prostheses
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Thought controlled electronic prostheses
- A transhuman biohacker implanted over 50 chips and magnets in her body
In conversation with Lepht Anonym, a faceless, genderless British biohacker that has implanted over 50 magnets and chips in her body for sensory 'kicks'.
- A Cooling, Implantable Device For Pain Relief
Modalities include: chemicals, genes, proteins and cells used as drugs, gene editing, prosthetics, and mind-machine ... and an electronic system for temperature ... [+] control.
- The 4 Essential Elements of Device Design Today
These are four key features medical device makers are keeping in mind to create products ... microprocessor-controlled lower limb system for above-the-knee amputees is one such device. Although ...
- Medical Hacks
However, adding a stabilizing silicon layer meant that the design of the prosthetic needed to change. With several improvements in mind, [Ian] started the process of creating the plaster positive ...
- Human Augmentation Makes List Of 2020 Strategic Techs
Today, humans use electronic and mechanical technology ... “26 joints that can curl up 45 pounds and is controlled by a person’s mind just like a regular arm.” 2016: Prosthetic skin is part of ongoing ...