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The first dexterous and sentient hand prosthesis has been successfully implanted
- bitxbitxbitcoin 8y ago"In a pioneering surgery, titanium implants were placed in the two forearm bones (radius and ulnar), from which electrodes to nerves and muscle were extended to extract signals to control a robotic hand and to provide tactile sensations." This seems pretty significant. And, I hate to sound gross but doesn't that technically mean a prosthesis could be attached as an extra instead of a replacement?
- ruytlm 8y agoThis is one of the areas I think is fascinating about prosthesis - once we get to the point where they're essentially connected in to the brain, and can be used as though they were a natural limb, what would happen if say, you raised a child with the ability to control four arms as naturally as two? Or raised them with non-humanoid limbs?
- est31 8y agoAnother really cool application would be the ability to control extremities that aren't part of your body. Using the internet, you could deliver whole-body experiences to robotic shells thousands of km away from your actual body or in virtual environments. The indian concept of avatars, also part of christian religion, would become scientific reality.
- dx87 8y agoThere's a startup, I believe it's in Japan, that is working on this. Basically you'd have generic looking prosthetic humans at popular tourist locations, and you could pay to rent them for a set amount of time, remotely controlling them with sensors attached to your body, and seeing through their eyes with a VR helmet.
- tetha 8y agoThe pen & paper RPG eclipse phase is going one step further there. Singularity AI's are ... well replicating and harvesting on earth with little consequence for the biological implications. As such, humans are uploading their minds to escape shuttles, since you can fit a million people on a storage raid the size of a person. And then there's corporations providing cheap robotic bodies... It's an amazingly disgusting yet realistic setting.
- dx87 8y agoI personally think that prosthetics and mechanical augmentation will become commonplace in the future. Humans are smart enough to create tools that allow us to surive where we normally couldn't, I don't see why we wouldn't eventaully get to a point where we decide that we can create better bodies for ourselves, instead of waiting for evolution to eventually work its magic.
- GlenTheMachine 8y agoI was once involved in a DARPA study that looked at this. My takeaway: we have no idea whether the neurocontrol parts of the brain are this plastic. It might work great; it might totally fail. Nobody knows yet.
- twic 8y agoHow many extra arms did they give you? Did you get to keep them?
- GlenTheMachine 8y agoYes, two. They’re in my lab;)
- 21 8y agoWhere do you attach a third arm?
- dx87 8y agoProbably on your back, and have it lay flat when not in use. That way you could carry things in front of you, and use the third arm to carry additional stuff as a counterbalance.
- 21 8y agoThe problem is integrating it into the existing skeleton. Our arms are not just glued to the body, they integrate with the shoulder.
- pmontra 8y agoAnd never ever be able to seat on a standard chair or travel in a car? Probably not. I would think about how to carry on common tasks with common items such as seating, sleeping, wearing clothes, etc. Perhaps 4 arms would be better than 3 given our symmetry but they're going to force the owner to use so many specially built stuff. I guess two are going to be optimal for a while. Or attach the extra arms to a hexoscheleton and wear it only when needed.
- Aardwolf 8y agoHow about wirelessly controlled?
- kozikow 8y agoOn track to "Deus ex: human revolution" in 2027. Human prosthetics augmentation is a centerpiece of the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oTSX_csbQY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oTSX_csbQY .
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- alpaca128 8y agoNow all that's missing is a huge pharma company buying a tech startup for revolutionary prosthetics and selling both prosthetics and drugs like inkjet printers and cartridges.
- kozikow 8y agohttps://deusex.fandom.com/wiki/Neuropozyne https://deusex.fandom.com/wiki/Neuropozyne
- userbinator 8y agoHow appropriate is the term "sentient" here, given that the hand is still controlled by the brain of the human it is attached to?
- est31 8y agoI think sentient in this context means that it gives tactile feedback to the brain. It definitely won't do your math homework for you.
- Novashi 8y ago>It definitely won't do your math homework for you. Hook that prosthesis up to a phone and let's see how far we can get
- adrusi 8y agoThe technical meaning of "sentient" is "capable of feeling". It's opposed to "sapient", which means capable of thinking. It's a reasonable adaptation of the term to have it mean "capable of transmitting touch signals to the wearers nervous system" in the context of prosthetics.
- BurningFrog 8y agoThat's an unfortunate accident of technical jargon...
- labster 8y agoOh good, I was worried that Andy Weir was a coauthor for a sec: http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=665 http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=665
- mftrhu 8y agoWouldn't "sensate" be a better word?
- adrusi 8y ago
- jjcm 8y agoThe video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WQiJPexEDM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WQiJPexEDM ) provides a bit clearer explanation of what's going on. They're actually sending signals directly through the percutaneous bone anchors, which is pretty rad in my book. Looks like the hand just snaps on to the anchors and you're ready to go, albeit with years of retraining the nerve endings for the new signals.
- toomuchtodo 8y agoCurious if you could speed up retraining for the prosthetic using biofeedback.
- ricardobeat 8y agoCould you explain what that means to a layperson?
- adrianN 8y agoI wonder how well you could integrate such prosthetics if you had them from a very young age.
- est31 8y agoI'm a bit uneasy about the fact that they are punching through skin. This always bears a big risk of infections as the skin is the #1 protection from bacteria. Even prosthetics fully under the skin have this risk, and septic shock is a possibly lethal threat. And we humans love to put our hands to various sometimes more, sometimes less, dirty places.
- tom_ 8y agoLet them know of your concerns - I'm sure they'll be interested. Sounds like a good point, and non-obvious. I'd never have thought of it and I doubt they will have either.
- maxerickson 8y agoDo you think the people involve care about your unease? Or do you think the lady is willing to risk infection to have a working hand? I bet the doctors have thought an awful lot about the balance between the risks and benefits.
- eganist 8y agoFor your awareness, this risk has largely been observed and researched in the field of dental implants. I'd suspect this research would be extended and applied here with this concept. My assumption is that the exposed components are not just made from titanium (biocompatibility) but are also textured in such a way that soft tissue can enforce a seal, but I'm speculating because I'm not finding the necessary documentation on it. Someone more informed may be able to chime in. Edit: This is the closest starting point I've found for your continued reading. http://www.jdionline.org/article.asp?issn=0974-6781;year=2013;volume=3;issue=2;spage=148;epage=152;aulast=Alva http://www.jdionline.org/article.asp?issn=0974-6781;year=201...
- yonatron 8y agoVery ambitious use of the word "sentient".... hubris much?
- lookACamel 8y agoSentient means capable of feeling.
- samstave 8y agoWhat if i dont need a prothesis replacement arm, but i want and additional third or fourth arm wearable in the form of a “backpack with arms” How can i get one, and how expensive (medically and financially) will my additional sets of arms be?
- b_tterc_p 8y agoProbably not with this tech. This tech is integrating with your nerves and slowly training it to interpret signals from your brain, and I think vice versa. That won’t ever apply to casually worn appendages. So what could be done? Probably an indirect method would work better. Use existing motor controls (maybe finger gestures?) and an eye tracker to direct your doctor octopus arms (for which power and weight will be primary concerns). We won’t get sensory feedback properly, but you might imagine having a single external device which channels some sort of sensory trick to 80/20 it. When will this arrive? Wearable arms probably don’t have a market, but the control scheme and sensory feedback are going to be top of mind for VR / AR hardware devs I would think
- ordu 8y agoI believe brain is fully capable to adapt to a one more hand or two. Maybe even sentient hands. All you need is to place electrodes into brain itself. Or maybe somewhere in a brainstem, I'm not an expert in this things, but I think it is possible. It would be nice, I would be able to type on keyboard and drink tea with cookies without stopping. But there is mouse here... So I need three additional arms. Not like mine, with less strength but with thinnier fingers and a finer precision. If it possible then without a tremor. And an eye on each palm, for I could to see things really closely.
- b_tterc_p 8y agoWe can put electrodes in the brain to do this, but they move around too much and will eventually destroy the brain tissue.
- 8y ago
- edoo 8y agoI hope I live to see the day I can read a news article about black market cybernetic chop shops.
- IshKebab 8y agoIs there no video of it use?
- pietroglyph 8y agoThere are if you read farther down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf3try5tu-0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf3try5tu-0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EES8U5LwaUs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EES8U5LwaUs