Researchers aim for ‘direct brain control’ of prosthetic arms.

It may sound like science fiction, but engineering researchers at four US universities are embarking on a four-year program to design a prosthetic arm that amputees can control directly with their brains and that will allow them to feel what they touch. The research at Rice University, the University of Michigan, Drexel University and the University of Maryland is made possible by a .2 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Human-Centered Computing Campaign. For more info: www.media.rice.edu

How do modern prosthetic technologies link with organic nerves?

Question by Slyvr: How do modern prosthetic technologies link with organic nerves?
I don’t think we’d just be able to take a wire and “plug” it into our body somehow. So how exactly are prosthetic arms, hands, etc capable of communicating with nerves?

The main thing I’m looking into right now is prosthetic camera eyes or “Visual prosthesis”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_prosthesis

I’m curious how someone might go about connecting a camera to the brain to either replace a missing eye or possibly create a third eye.

Best answer:

Answer by Travis C
The brain sends and receives signals to and from nerves in muscles. A protheses is generally attached to existing muscle. In the case of feedback or control, the patient must learn to re-program their brain in order to interpret tiny electrical signals felt by their existing nerves.

These signals can be generated by pezioelectronics, or in the case of vision, photovoltaics. Other kinds measure electromagnetic frequencies generated by the brain to guess how or what the person is intending. Most of these learning processes is developed naturally shortly after birth but some can take many years to relearn or unlearn.

Most limb prostheses do not communicate with nerves directly.

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