Advances in Neuronal Control of Prosthetic Devices Essay

Introduction Every year, thousands of Americans are paralyzed in accidents. As a result researchers are currently looking into ways to help paralyzed patients carry out their daily duties and bring control to their lives. Bringing movement to those who are currently incapable of doing so could be accomplished through several methods. Recently, a robotic arm was made by the Chicago Rehabilitation Institute which was placed on an amputee’s shoulder, and functioned by monitoring nerve impulses from the subject. While this new technology proved to be a success, it has its drawbacks. Mainly, the subject must have a healthy or undamaged nervous system to allow the impulses to travel to the robotic limb. This limits this technology’s use†¦show more content†¦Methods and Materials Aim: Enable spinal cord injury victims lost motor functions by corresponding the action potentials to an alternate device Incorporating individuals suffering from tetraparesis from spinal cord injury, brainstem stroke, muscular dystrophy, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, neuromotor prostheses are used to send signals to external receptors in the place of lost internal receptors (i.e. absence of useable muscle of limbs). Consent regarding the pending array (multiple electrodes) was obtained prior to the surgical insertion (which has yet to be published). In order to record possible neurons despite the differentiating layers, the array was inserted into the arm/hand. The signals run through an external apparatus and cross the skin in order to reach an internal apparatus on the skull, which translates through cables in order to produce an output defined as a neural cursor. The recording sessions took place at the participant?s residence to the discretion of the participant. All stimulation was kept constant by the selected electrodes when participants faced external devices that demanded output by way of neural signals, such as video games. As the participant rested, units in data gathered were determined by a technician using time-amplitude windows according to a 1.6 msShow MoreRelatedRestoration Of Function After Spinal Cord Injury2722 Words   |  11 Pagesspinal cord injury Abstract The deformation in the structure of spinal cord after an injury causes the conduction of impulse to be disrupted and the body functions are lost. This happens relying on the severity of the injury. There are different devices which have been developed or are under development to restore the body functions after a spinal cord injury. Neuroprosthetic treatment has a promising future and it is a technology which can be used to restore motor and autonomic functions and also