Major progress in health through technology_美文

Major progress in health through technology

“And that was enough information that we could then decode from those recordings, what the intention of the subject was, the way she wanted to move her arm and her wrist and close her hand. We could decode the information from those neurons to allow us to do that.”

Jan Scheuermann took part in a 13-week-long program to teach her brain to move the arm. But she did not need that much time. She was able to use her mind to move the robotic arm after just two weeks of training.

She reportedly told researchers that she planned to use the arm to feed herself some chocolate. When she was able to do that, it made the research team very happy.

Andrew Schwartz says his team plans to build another artificial arm, so people like Ms. Scheuermann can hold and move objects using two hands.

“And really the satisfying part is that we’re not just making a machine move, we’re actually recreating natural humanoid movements. So we’re capturing all the beauty and grace and skill of a real movement, and allowing these subjects to basically return to a certain amount of function that they used to have.”

The researchers would like to create a wireless system that helps the brain communicate with the robotic limbs. The brain’s signals would be changed into messages that computers can understand. People could then use the arms or legs in their homes without wires or help from scientists.