Robotic arm that moves with the thought – ElTiempo.com

Erik Sorto, 34, paralyzed from the neck down for ten years, was able to control a robotic arm just by thinking about it and using your imagination; managed movements such as shaking hands or playing ‘rock-paper-scissors’. So says an investigation by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Keck School of Medicine at UCLA, published by the journal Science.

So far, devices neuroprotésicos implanted into the brain area where the center is located movement, the motor cortex, which may allow patients with amputations or paralysis control a robotic arm, but lagging awkward movement and thought.

The researchers implanted microelectrodes in the brain area where the intention of the motion occurs, the posterior parietal cortex, which managed the patient to perform movements more naturally and smoothly.

“When you move an arm, not really think about the muscles to be activated or the details of the movement (…), but the aim of the movement”, like taking a glass of water, explained Professor Richard Andersen, leader of the study.

With this research, the expert said, “we have managed to decode these real intentions simply ask the subject to imagine the movement as a whole” .

After the operation, carried out in 2013, Sorto learned to control a computer cursor and a robotic arm with his mind, and at the end of the training was able to make intuitive movements with the prosthesis.

The experimental results provide researchers with new information about the neural activity underlying the voluntary movements of the body, and presents an important step towards improving the neuroprotésicos devices.

To date, researchers working in this area had implanted microelectrodes in the brain area related to the production of motion.

But in this case the team made a different neuronal recording devices implanted in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) approach, the area of ​​the brain where nerve contain information on how motor activity is planned.

Andersen said that it hoped that the signals coming from the PPC were easier to use for the patient, making “and the process more intuitive movement.”

With MRI, the researchers monitored the neurons of the patient while the imagined movements of the limbs and eyes.

The study, supported by other monkeys and humans, suggests that the posterior parietal cortex is involved in the planning of actions, as well as more abstract concepts such as setting goals and intentions.

Dr. Andersen and his colleagues work now a strategy that allows the patient to improve their motor skills, and the key is to make the robotic arm to the brain certain types of sensory responses.

EFE