A team at the University of Pittsburgh is trying to give patients a sense of touch by connecting their limbs with their nerves.
Steve INSKEEP is the host.
Artificial limbs could be made to feel real by scientists. A sense of touch is being developed by scientists. Jon Hamilton reported on the work done at the University of Pittsburgh.
More than 80 people from different labs are in the group. One of those labs is run by Lee Fisher. They say their inspiration comes from Star Wars.
You can't tell that it's not his own hand when they give him a new hand.
One reason is that his artificial hand feels the same pressure and pain as his real one. Fisher says we need a sense of touch for simple tasks. The scientists in Pittsburgh are trying to find a way to transmit information from artificial limbs to the user. Fisher's lab uses a device in a person's spine.
It looks like a spaghetti noodle, according to Fisher. A needle can be used to insert them.
Fisher's lab is using the device to help people with chronic pain, but it's also being used to help people with missing limbs. The person's nerve fibers used to connect to their own limb.
We need to understand what the stimulation feels like. Is it possible to make a sensation that feels like it's coming from their hand or foot? Is it possible to change the intensity of it?
The answer is yes, according to a study. Pat Bayne, who lost his right arm to an infectious disease, described in a video what it was like to be stimulated.
There is an excerpt of anHIVed recording.
Pat Bayne knows there is no hand but he can feel it. It feels like the palm of my hand.
Artificial legs and feet have a sense of touch. Fisher says that we depend on our feet to stay upright.
It's basically an upside down pendulum that you have to keep moving around to maintain that balance and that sensory feedback from your feet is what allows you to do that.
Fisher says that an experiment that added feedback from a foot seemed to help a amputees.
We saw improvements in her balance control during standing, her stability while she's walking, and perhaps some improvements in her confidence, so how comfortable she feels.
People whose limbs are paralyzed can benefit from a sense of touch. The Pittsburgh group has been teaching paralyzed people how to use their minds to control a robotic arm.
There is a sound of machine chatter.
Jen Collinger is a rehabilitation scientist and she wants to add a sense of touch to robotic arms.
There is a robot called Kuka. It is fast and can be flexible.
According to Collinger, a paralyzed person could regain some independence with the help of a robot.
Being able to feed yourself, that's right, right?
It's difficult when a person has to rely on their eyes to see what's happening. Robert Gaunt says a sense of touch makes it easy.
It doesn't take someone to pick up objects and move them around. A lot of the trials get fast enough to be considered able-bodied performances.
Scientists are only able to give a basic sense of touch. It's good to know when a foot has weight on it.
It's difficult to discriminate between different types of objects.
He says it's hard but not out of reach.
Jon Hamilton is a reporter for NPR.
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