Technology: Making robotic prosthetics look more natural | Nature Communications | Nature wallet

A research paper talks about a new way to make the feeling of wearing a robotic prosthetic closer to a natural sensation.Nature CommunicationsPublished in This method has been found to improve movement and reduce the mental effort required for patients using robotic prosthetics compared to previous techniques. The authors say the findings could help people using prosthetic legs get a more realistic sensation.

Trauma and neurological disorders disrupt communication between the brain and body, reducing a person's ability to experience normal sensations. Prosthetics and bionic limbs can deliver information to the brain by connecting it to the nervous system, but creating natural sensations like touch is a challenge.

Now, Stanisa Raspopovic and her colleagues have designed a biologically inspired robotic neurostimulation protocol to make the sensation of walking with a robotic prosthesis more similar to natural sensations. Raspopovich and colleagues then tested this protocol on three lower limb amputees who had undergone nerve transplants. These patients are evaluated while performing a task (eg, climbing stairs), and patients who have a prosthesis that replaces the neurological function are able to climb stairs faster and self-report that they are more confident. Raspopovich and his colleagues used biomimetic nerve stimulation, derived from a computational model that replicates neurons in the sole of the foot, to help patients focus on other things while walking, reducing pressure on their brains.

Raspopovich and others claim that these new, nature-inspired techniques can help mimic normal neural function, restoring essential aspects of sensory experience after illness or injury. The idea is that it could help amputees and other patients.

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-45190-6

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