Implants designed to improve our health are not something new. The cochlear, for example, those little devices that allow a deaf person to have sensations of sound, began to be used in Spain at the end of the 80s, but in recent years much progress has been made in this field. And progress has been made not only in the use of mechanical prostheses (exoskeletons), but also in the manufacture of biological tissues to help regenerate one’s own, and in deep brain electrostimulation, the transmission of electrical signals to specific areas of the brain to, for For example, reduce tremors caused by diseases such as Parkinson’s. This last technique may even become obsolete soon, since ultrasound beams have been used for some time to burn a part of the brain and thus reduce tremors.
As Eduardo Rocon, a researcher at the Center for Automation and Robotics of the CSIC and the Polytechnic University of Madrid, explains, “not only is the brain better understood now, but also electronics itself is increasingly miniaturized and compatible with the human body. Circumstances that are favoring the creation of ocular and motor prostheses that generate movement by decoding brain information”. In short, technology and biology come together to improve our health.
Quadriplegics standing up
Rocon, who has been researching the creation of exoskeletons to help rehabilitate walking for 20 years, assures that “all these gadgets used to be science fiction, but today they are marketed by several companies. He still would not say that they are bionic systems because they are coupled to the human body, but much progress has been made both in the mechanical part to create movement and in understanding the intentions of the human brain to be able to control them ».
However, these external prostheses will not replace the wheelchair as soon as they are still very slow. Right now, they are more of a complement to classic mobility solutions. In fact, a French company already manufactures exoskeletons that allow quadriplegics to move, “but since they do it so slowly, at the moment they are only used in rehabilitation work with the aim of helping them control their motor system,” the specialist clarifies.
The control problem
The main obstacle presented by robotic prostheses that replace a limb or part of it, and that have a functionality equal to or greater than that of a natural one, is precisely control. That is to say, that the machine understands the indications of the person, hence the research in this field is focused on knowing how the brain encodes the information to later carry out the movements of the body.
In current prostheses, the person who wears it must learn to dissociate movements and train certain muscles. However, if this research were to come to fruition, it would no longer have to be done, but the body would ‘function’ in the same way as with its own limbs and the system would understand it. According to Rocon, “this is going to be the next disruptive movement. We will be able to better understand the brain and control much more complex systems. Now we are able to guide a robot with our brains to start walking or stop, but we are still not able to control the degrees that a knee turns.”
Will we have a ‘third thumb’?
Another of the new lines of research in robotics points in a somewhat surprising direction, that of expanding the possibilities of the human body. At the University of Cambridge’s Plasticity Lab (United Kingdom) they study neuroscience applied to assistive devices, in addition to investigating a prosthesis that acts as a “third thumb”. This device, which is attached to the hand –between the little finger and the wrist– and is controlled by pressure sensors in the shoes, can be used to pick up objects or handle tools. One of the first and best known examples of this technology are sports prostheses used for running. Instead of simulating the shape of a foot, an inverted C-shaped sheet of carbon fiber was designed to favor the runner’s momentum.
Much progress has also been made in the creation of implantable materials. As Beatriz Olalde, director of biomaterials at Tecnalia, explains, “the idea is that they help the tissue they replace to grow quickly and regenerate. Instead of removing some of the healthy tissue to fit one of the standard prostheses on the market, the implant would be the right size and shape for that person and then the tissues would regenerate with the help of drugs or therapy.”
Another of the new lines of research in robotics points in a somewhat surprising direction, that of expanding the possibilities of the human body. At the University of Cambridge’s Plasticity Lab (United Kingdom) they study neuroscience applied to assistive devices, in addition to investigating a prosthesis that acts as a “third thumb”. This device, which is attached to the hand –between the little finger and the wrist– and is controlled by pressure sensors in the shoes, can be used to pick up objects or handle tools. One of the first and best known examples of this technology are sports prostheses used for running. Instead of simulating the shape of a foot, an inverted C-shaped sheet of carbon fiber was designed to favor the runner’s momentum.
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