The Emerging World of Motor Neuroprosthetics (original) (raw)

FROM COCHLEAR IMPLANTS TO BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACES

In this article two groups of technologies based on connecting a medical device to the human brain are presented. The first group exploits the existing nerves, like the cochlear implant where ear prosthesis is connected to the auditory nerve. Another group is based on a direct connection between an electronic device and the human brain and it is called Brain-Computer Interfaces. The article contains the description of these technologies, points out their current capabilities and limitations and the main barriers to further development. The authors indicate possible directions of future expansion of the discussed technologies.

Cochlear Implant Using Neural Prosthetics

2012

This research is based on neural prosthetic device. The oldest and most widely used of these electrical, and often computerized, devices is the cochlear implant, which has provided hearing to thousands of congenitally deaf people in this country. Recently, the use of the cochlear implant is expanding to the elderly, who frequently suffer major hearing loss. More cutting edge are artificial retinas, which are helping dozens of blind people see, and "smart" artificial arms and legs that amputees can maneuver by thoughts alone, and that feel more like real limbs. Research, which curiosity led to explore frog legs dancing during thunderstorms, a snail shaped organ in the inner ear, and how various eye cells react to light, have fostered an understanding of how to "talk" to the nervous system. That understanding combined with the miniaturization of electronics and enhanced computer processing has enabled prosthetic devices that often can bridge the gap in nerve signaling that is caused by disease or injury.

Behavioral Demonstration of a Somatosensory Neuroprosthesis

IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 2013

Tactile sensation is critical for effective object manipulation, but current prosthetic upper limbs make no provision for delivering somesthetic feedback to the user. For individuals who require use of prosthetic limbs, this lack of feedback transforms a mundane task into one that requires extreme concentration and effort. Although vibrotactile motors and sensory substitution devices can be used to convey gross sensations, a direct neural interface is required to provide detailed and intuitive sensory feedback. In light of this, we describe the implementation of a somatosensory prosthesis with which we elicit, through intracortical microstimulation (ICMS), percepts whose magnitude is graded according to the force exerted on the prosthetic finger. Specifically, the prosthesis consists of a sensorized finger, the force output of which is converted into a regime of ICMS delivered to primary somatosensory cortex through chronically implanted multi-electrode arrays. We show that the performance of animals (Rhesus macaques) on a tactile task is equivalent whether stimuli are delivered to the native finger or to the prosthetic finger. Index Terms-Artificial limbs, brain computer interfaces, microelectrodes, neural prosthesis, prosthetic hand, sensors. I. INTRODUCTION A DVANCES in modern medicine allow an increasing number of civilians and veterans to emerge from catastrophic injury with lives intact, but bodies broken. Victims Manuscript

Neuroprosthetics: from sensorimotor to cognitive disorders

Communications Biology

Neuroprosthetics is a multidisciplinary field at the interface between neurosciences and biomedical engineering, which aims at replacing or modulating parts of the nervous system that get disrupted in neurological disorders or after injury. Although neuroprostheses have steadily evolved over the past 60 years in the field of sensory and motor disorders, their application to higher-order cognitive functions is still at a relatively preliminary stage. Nevertheless, a recent series of proof-of-concept studies suggest that electrical neuromodulation strategies might also be useful in alleviating some cognitive and memory deficits, in particular in the context of dementia. Here, we review the evolution of neuroprosthetics from sensorimotor to cognitive disorders, highlighting important common principles such as the need for neuroprosthetic systems that enable multisite bidirectional interactions with the nervous system.

Editorial: Biosignal processing and computational methods to enhance sensory motor neuroprosthetics

Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2015

Neuroprosthetics is an interdisciplinary field of study that comprises neuroscience, computer science, physiology, and biomedical engineering. Each of these areas contributes to finally enhance the functionality of neural prostheses for the substitution or restoration of motor, sensory or cognitive funtions that might have been damaged as a result of an injury or a disease. For example, heart pace makers and cochlear implants substitute the functions performed by the heart and the ear by emulating biosignals with artificial pulses. These approaches require reliable bio-signal processing and computational methods to provide functional augmentation of damaged senses and actions. This Research Topic aims at bringing together recent advances in sensory motor neuroprosthetics. This issue includes research articles in all relevant areas of neuroprosthetics: (1) biosignal processing, especially of Electromyography (EMG) and Electroencephalography (EEG) signals, and other modalities of biofeedback information, (2) computational methods for modeling parts of the sensorimotor system, (3) control strategies for delivering the optimal therapy, (4) therapeutic systems aiming at providing solutions for specific pathological motor disorders, (5) man-machine interfaces, such as a brain-computer interface (BCI), as an interaction modality between the patient and the neuroprostheses. One challenging issue in motor prosthetics is the variability in the clinical presentation of patients, who show a variety of neurological disorders and physiological conditions. In order to improve neuroprosthetic performance beyond the current limited use, reliable biosignal processing for extracting the intended neural information is needed (Farina et al., 2014). This information extraction stage can also be based on a modeling approach. Personalized neuroprosthetics with bio-signal feedback (Hayashibe et al., 2011; Borton et al., 2013; Li et al., 2014) could be a breakthrough toward intelligent neuroprosthetics. Combining different engineering techniques, such as in a hybrid approach (Del-Ama et al., 2014), is essential to expand the range of technological applications for wider patient populations. Recent advances of BCI are also relevant in this field to enable patients to transmit their intention of movement and its usage both for functional and rehabilitative purposes. This Research Topic comprises original research activities in different levels of maturity ranging from hypothesis and poof-of-concept (Dutta et al., 2014; Grahn et al., 2014b) to systems already tested with some patients. It also contains a variety of approaches from computational method to experimental studies. Following the recent intensive developments of advanced BCI systems (Leeb et al., 2015; Muller-Putz et al., 2015), many contributions in this Research Topic are provided in the field of BCI, both with the aim of functional replacement and for neurorehabilitation. We overview those contributions for each category.

From Hearing Aids, Prostheses and Cochlear Implants to "Bionic" Feedback Phonation

In Otorhinolaryngological medical practice therapeutic devices are used that are highly invasive and immersive. For aural and oral communication these could be hearing aids, prosthetics, implants or radio-electronic appliances that build up a bionic environment with apparent tendencies for virtualization. The popularization of such devices promotes the extensive use of Brain Computer Interfaces to both the scientific community and the consumer market. The use of bionic devices clinched with synapses of the nerves does not merely mingle input activity to brain activity, but also it provides a virtual channel for augmenting and manipulating speech communication, language communication and even further musical communication. The effects of bionic aural and oral communication when learning practices for the impaired in hearing are applied is encountered in terms of ability for speech perception and linguistic competence.

Co-Evolution of Human and Machine: Neuroprosthetics in the 21st Century

2009 IEEE Conference on the History of Technical Societies, 2009

Throughout the history of mankind, tools have served the role as passive extensions of the body. Recently, the development of neuroprosthesis has changed the scope of how humans interact with tools. Neuroprosthetics enable direct interfacing with the brain and have the great potential for restoring communication and control in disabled individuals. The transformative aspect of direct neural interfaces is that they can be designed as 'intelligent tools' that not only carry out intent but also have the capability to assist, evolve, and grow with the user. Unlike other tools, neuroprosthetics exist in a shared space that seamlessly spans the user's internal representation of the world and the physical environment enabling a much deeper humantool symbiosis. Recent advancements in the engineering of neuroprosthetics are providing a blueprint for how new coadaptive designs change the nature of a user's ability to accomplish tasks that were not possible using conventional methodologies. This paper analyzes how key advances in science and technology supporting the development of intelligent neuroprosthesis and contrasts them with "lessons learned" from the past 50 years in the IEEE.