Controlling A Prosthetic Arm With Thought

Image source: BBC

What we used to see a few years ago in movies is turning into reality. Controlling objects with just your thought? Who would have ever thought?

Jan Scheurmann, a 53 year old quadriplegic who is paralyzed from the neck down, recently managed to control a prosthetic arm with her mind to grasp and move objects with ease.

Two sensors were implanted in her brain that pick up electrical signals from around 200 individual brain cells, which later translate into commands that are used to move the arm and grab objects. The co-ordination, skill and speed she achieved only after 14 weeks of training (she was picking up objects on the second day!!) was almost similar to that of an able bodied person.

Image source: BBC

The next plan is to attach the prosthetic arm to Jen's wheelchair so that she could use it on a daily basis. There have been attempts to give sensation to the prosthetic arm as well so that Jen could feel the sense of touch.

This development is huge for people with spinal cord injuries, amputees, and quadriplegics. We saw something similar earlier this year, and looking at the progress, we should see a lot more action in this area in the coming years!

Hit the source links to read more about this in detail.

Source: BBC, The Lancet via Gizmodo

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Circus Challenge: Video Games For Stroke Victims

Image source: Engadget

 It is often a challenge to retrain the brain to control a weakened limb after a stroke. It is not an impossible task, but it usually takes months to get success. In order to help speed up this process, and to make it more fun and interesting, Limbs Alive and scientists at Newcastle University have come up with a set of video games called Circus Challenge , thus providing extra in-home therapy.

This set of games has been specifically designed for people with Hemiplegia, however the target audience is anyone who needs to better their

Image source: Limbs Alive

 motor skills. These games consist primarily of circus games that require the use of both hands to perform tasks that would let them advance and reach higher levels. The patients use motion sensing controllers  (think wii remote) to perform circus activities like throwing pies, teetering, lion taming, juggling, high diving, and trapeze work to name a few. The more they advance in the games, the more challenging the tasks become and require greater coordination and strength.

The game would be available later this year and can be played on PCs, laptops, and tablets using motion sensing controllers (hopefully someone would come up with a Kinect hack too?). To find out when these games would be launched, go to Limbs Alive's Contact Us page and sign up to get latest updates from them.

Watch the video to see what Circus Challenge can do!



Source:Limbs Alive via Engadget, Gizmodo

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