Soft robotic prosthetic hand uses nerve signals for more natural control

Recent progress in technology They revolutionized the world of auxiliary and medical tools, and prosthetic limbs are no exception.

We have come a long way from a rigid, pure cosmetic prosthetics of the past. Today we notice an increase in softer, more realistic design, many that include robotic components that significantly expand their functionality.

Despite these exciting development, there is a major challenge: how to facilitate these robotic limbs for users to control?

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Control Problem: Barrier in the real world

Think about it – a very advanced prosthetic hand is as good as the user’s ability to control it. If the control system is clumsy or difficult to learn, it limits the effectiveness of the prosthetics and eventually affects the quality of user users. Most commercially available robotic limbs Still struggling with this question.

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IIT and Imperial College London breakthrough

Now, Researchers from the Italian Technology Institute (IIT) and Imperial College London presented a promising solution: a new soft prosthetic hand designed for intuitive control. Their work, published in Science Robotics, introduces a new control approach that combines the natural patterns of coordination of our fingers with the decoding of Motoneuron activity in the spine column.

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Decoding of natural body movements

So, how does that work? Let’s separate it. When we perform daily tasks, fingers move in coordinated patterns called “postural synergy”. These synergies are fundamental to the way we understand and manipulate objects. The team, led by Antonio Bicchi and Dario Farina, has developed a method that integrates these postural synergy with an analysis of electrical signals from the nervous system. By decoding the activity of spinal motoneurons (nerve cells that control muscle movement) can predict the movements of the hands that the user intends to make. This information is then used to control the prosthetic hand.

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Soft materials, smart design

The hand itself is an impressive engineering feat, combining soft skin materials, tendons and ligaments with solid “bone” materials. According to Bicchi, the artificial bones “roller on each other, instead of turning the needles, like the hands of a robot.” This, together with the tendon schedule, allows the hand to adjust the form of the object, mimicking the natural, intelligent capture of the human hand. One of the most exciting features of this new prosthetic hand is its ability to perform manipulation. This means that users not only can understand the object, but also adjust their grip and move the object in their hand – imagine that they can open a bottle of water using only their prosthetic hand.

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Promising results in initial trials

The researchers put their creation for a test of capable participants and individuals with prosthetic needs. The results were encouraging, showing that the hand allowed users to perform complex movements and manipulate objects with greater precision and naturalness compared to other prosthetic hands. Tests have shown that combined neural and postural synergy provides accurate and natural control of coordinated multidigant actions, achieving over 90% of a continuous mechanical divider, and the targeted rate of hitting of the specific positions of the hand was higher in neuronian synergy compared to muscle synergy.

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The future of prosthetics looks softer and smarter

This innovative soft prosthetic hand represents a significant step forward in the field. The principles of the control and principles of design developed by Tim IIT and Imperial College London could run the way for more advanced prosthetic limbs in the future. Although further precision and clinical trials are required, this technology has a huge potential to improve the life of individuals with loss of limbs.

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Kurts key endeavor

This study emphasizes the importance of imitating the natural mechanisms of the body when designing prosthetics. Combining soft robotics with advanced neural decoding, scientists create prosthetic limbs that are not only functional but also intuitive and natural for use. This could truly revolutionize the field and empower users to recover lost abilities and improve their quality of life.

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