Brain Implant Will Let Amputees Move Individual Fingers on Prosthetics With Thoughts Alone
To test the device, scientists at Johns Hopkins University recruited the help of an epilepsy patient who was preparing for surgery to pinpoint the source of his seizures. (The patient himself was not missing a limb.) The scientists used the same electrode array implanted in his brain to control the prosthetic limb. After mapping the parts of the brain responsible for individual finger control movements, the researchers programmed the prosthesis to move the corresponding finger. The details of the experiment can now be found in the Journal of Neural Engineering.
“We believe this is the first time a person using a mind-controlled prosthesis has immediately performed individual digit movements without extensive training,” said senior author Nathan Crone in a press statement. “This technology goes beyond available prostheses, in which the artificial digits, or fingers, moved as a single unit to make a grabbing motion, like one used to grip a tennis ball.
https://archive.is/yISyf
A Northeastern student is using 3D printing to make affordable prosthetics
Brian Fountaine knows how difficult it is to live with prosthetic limbs–10 years ago, he became a double below-the-knee amputee after sustaining a combat injury in Iraq.
Fountaine, an undergraduate graphic design student at Northeastern University, set out to find a way to make high-quality, life-changing prosthetics affordable. The answer he found was 3D printing prosthetics using carbon fiber, an idea so promising that the Ford Foundation awarded him $25,000 to make it happen.
“I’m for helping anybody who has any kind of a mobility or amputee problem that they would need addressed,” he says. “Everybody has their own unique injuries.”
Fountaine is also allowing other students in Northeastern’s College of Arts, Media, and Design to use the 3D printers purchased through his grant, in an effort to keep the flow of ideas going. It’s a gesture in keeping with Fountaine’s humble outlook on the project’s success.
https://archive.is/el2AH
OPIE to include Amputee Mobility Predictor in software
“The integration of the [Amputee Mobility Predictor] AMP into OPIE Software provides O&P practitioners a powerful tool to approach amputee care with an evidence-based practice approach - The AMP has the ability to determine the functional mobility of people with lower limb loss as defined by the Medicare Functional Classification Levels or K-Levels and is a measure of amputee function and impairment for the CMS mandated G-codes. Furthermore, goal-oriented interdisciplinary care coordination can more consistently be measured and communicated with this outcome measure. The AMP may be used by prosthetists, physical therapists and physicians for documentation and treatment planning.”
Advanced Rehabilitation Therapy Inc. is a therapist-owned and operated company that provides educational materials and seminars to the rehabilitation community.
https://archive.is/5H1qN
Prosthetics: Amputee James Young unveils hi-tech synthetic arm inspired by Metal Gear Solid
The job advertisement was highly specific: applicants had to be passionate about computer games and live in the UK. Oh, and they also had to be amputees who were interested in wearing a futuristic prosthetic limb.
James Young knew straight away he had a better shot than most. After losing an arm and a leg in a rail accident in 2012, the 25-year-old Londoner had taught himself to use a video-game controller with one hand and his teeth. “How many amputee gamers can there be?” he asked himself.
For Mr Young, who unveiled the new prosthetic on Saturday at BodyHacking Con 2016, a conference in Texas devoted to “human augmentation”, the synthetic limb is likely to be life-changing, both in terms of its functionality and the levels of attention it will bring him. “I’ll be on stage in Texas talking about it,” he said before boarding his flight to the United States. “That will be a different level of attention – I’ll have to get used to it.”
https://archive.is/mWSmg