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by ibgames

EARTHDATE: June 14, 2015

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ROBOT ARM OF THE WEEK: PROSTHETIC FOR BEER-DRINKERS

by Hazed

A mind-controlled prosthetic arm has been developed that can perform fine motor movements well enough to lift a pint of beer without spillage.

Scientists from the California Institute of Technology wanted to overcome the limitation with the current technology, which is that their movements are jerky. This is because they are attached to the motor cortex, the part of the brain used to direct physical actions.

They hit upon the idea of using not just the motor cortex but also the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) which doesn’t perform movement – it plans it out.

“The PPC is earlier in the pathway, so signals there are more related to movement planning: what you actually intend to do rather than the details of the movement execution,” said Richard Andersen, the James G. Boswell Professor of Neuroscience at CalTech.

“We hoped that the signals from the PPC would be easier for the patients to use, ultimately making the movement process more intuitive.”

And it worked: when a patient tried the robotic arm out, he was able to direct it more precisely and could pick up a plastic cup of beer and drink it.

Cheers!

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/05/22/braincontrolled_robot_arm/

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