ABOVE: Participant Joe Hamilton uses his mind to control a prosthetic hand to pick up a small block.
EVAN DOUGHERTY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ENGINEERING
Traditional upper limb prosthetics, which often consist of two hooks controlled by a cable to another body part, require people who’ve lost a hand or arm to learn to manipulate a tool that’s connected to their body, rather than to control a prosthetic built to work as their lost limb once did. Even modern strategies that work more intuitively to harness signals coming from remaining nerves and muscles to move a robotic prosthesis might not distinguish between different movement signals—such as those to move the first versus little fingers—or require frequent recalibration.
In a study published this week (March 4) in Science Translational Medicine, researchers describe a strategy that creates a so-called regenerative peripheral nerve interface using muscle grafts connected to amputees’ remaining peripheral nerves. The grafts ...
